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DISCOURSES. 




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DISCOURSES 



ON 



THE NATURE OF FAITH, 

AND KINDRED SUBJECTS, 



BY THE LATE 



WILLIAM H. STARR 



WITH A MEMOIR. 



Chicago: 

D . B . COOK & CO 

1857. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857. 

By JOSEPH JOHNSTON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 

for Illinois. 



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PREFACE. 



A few months before his decease, the Author of 
the Discourses on the Nature of Faith expressed 
a hope that he might at some time be able to revise 
them for publication. Upon consultation with per- 
sonal and literary friends, it is thought that, without 
the finislf which his own hand would have given 
them, they will nevertheless be a worthy memorial, 
and contribute to the knowledge of Christian truth. 

The other Discourses are added, partly as com- 
pleting the previous discussions, and partly as a por- 
traiture of evils which he felt more keenly than most 
persons, and which for Christ's sake he most deeply 
deplored. 

To those who may suffer as he did from these 
evils, or who may doubt respecting his views of 
Christian Faith, the Notes which have been appended 
may be not without value. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Memoir 9 

The Fugitive : A Poem — Passages from 51 

Discourse I. — Faith — Its Nature — Importance of the Sub- 
ject 59 

DiscouRse II. — Faith — Definitions Examined 72 

Discourse III. — Faith — True Definition 81 

Discourse IV. — Faith — Its Moral Quality 96 

Discourse V. — Faith — Its General Application 108 

Discourse VI. — Faith — In the Affairs of this World 120 

Discourse VII. — Religious Faith 130 

Discourse VIII. — Faith in God — Its Nature and Influ- 
ence 141 

Discourse IX. — Faith in Christ — Regenerating 153 

Discourse X. — Faith in Christ — Justifying 162 

Discourse XI. — Faith in Christ — Sanctifying 174 

Discourse XII. — The Repose of Faith 183 

Discourse XIII. — Repentance 193 



viii CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Discourse XIV. — Evils of Sectarianism 211 

Discourse XV. — Evils of Sectarianism 222 

Discourse XVI. — Evils of Sectarianism 232 

Discourse XVII. — Evils of Sectarianism 246 

A ppendix. — Analysis of Faith 260 

Note A. — That Faith is Rational 262 

Note B.— That Faith is Voluntary 269 

Note C— That Faith is Moral 270 

Note D. — Statements combining the above 

Views 274 

Note E. — Authorities touching Sectarianism. 277 



DISCOURSES 



NATURE OF. FAITH, AND KINDRED SUBJECTS. 



MEMOIR. 



William Henry Starr was born in Middletown, Conn., 
on Sunday, April 27th, 1817. His father, Mr. James 
Starr, was an ingenious and enterprising man, engaged at 
one time in the stereotype business, in New -York. His 
mechanical skill, or constructive talent, was inherited by the 
son, and displayed in a ready use of tools, as well as, per- 
haps, in his facility of systematic thinking. His mother 
was the daughter of the Eev. Henry Ely, who preached in 
Killingworth, Conn., for a period of twenty years. It 
was a happy family incident, which seemed to be a little 
prophetic in its character, that William was called " the 
Parson," in allusion to the day of his birth. 

When he was about seven years of age, the family re- 
moved to Boston, and four years after, to Baltimore. In 
1832, they settled in Alton, Illinois. During the follow- 
ing summer, which was a season of prevailing sickness, 
they suffered, in a large measure, the hardships of pioneer 
life. All were prostrate with bilious fever ; help was 

2 



10 MEMOIR. 

scarcely to be obtained ; all, by turns, suffered relapses, 
from undue exertion in caring for the rest. On the 6th of 
August the father died. In their desolate home the wife 
and children still endured the lingering reaction of the 
fever, until the autumn of the following year. 

William's opportunities for acquiring an education w r ere 
limited. For several years, beginning with Christmas of 
1832, he was mostly employed as a merchant's clerk. A 
few months of the year 1834 were spent in the High School 
of Upper Alton, now Shirtliff College, in the study of 
algebra and some common English branches, but with 
much interruption by ague. His next school privilege, be- 
fore he entered college, was a period of about six months 
spent at Jacksonville, in the year 1839. 

He made his first public profession of religion by unit- 
ing with the Presbyterian Church of Carlinville, in 1835. 
His religious impressions and hopes, however, began in 
earlier life, of which we have an account in his own 
words : " Among my earliest recollections," says he, 
" reaching back to the age of two or three years, is that of 
the pleasure 1 took in saying my prayers very devoutly on 
going to bed-. It seemed to me then that I enjoyed the 
love of God. For years afterward, though I became care- 
less and as full of selfish desires as other children, yet on 
the occasion of any sickness in my father's family, I would 
fall to praying and confessing, and making ever so many 
fair promises to God, if the evil might be averted. And 
while living in Baltimore, in 1830 or 1831, I had lively 
religious exercises ; and I remember now distinctly the 
scene where I thought I gave my heart to God, while 
reading a hymn on the back of a tract. For some time 
after, I was very conscientious and prayerful. Gradually 



MEMOIR. 11 

I became as before. But for some time previous to the pe- 
riod of my uniting with the Church, having boarded in 
Mr. Bela White's family, and his wife being a living Chris- 
tian, I made up my mind to be a Christian on the first oppor- 
tunity (as I then thought). On occasion, therefore, of a 
series of meetings, held by Mr. Lippincott and Mr. Black- 
burn, I came forward. My religious exercises at this time 
were powerful and distinct. After laboring under convic- 
tion for several days, at last, when engaged in prayer which 
I had begun with the supplicating cry of an awakened 
sinner, 1 began to call God, Father. My feelings expe- 
rienced a great change. I was full of joy and love."* 

Even after this Mr. S. finds himself laboring under false 
impressions of the nature of religion, as though it lay 
mostly in certain feelings, rather than the faithful and cheer- 
ful discharge of Christian duty. His early experience is 
apparent, we think, in the interest which he felt in chil- 
dren ; and it may explain certain views of Christian nur- 
ture which he presented to his people a few months before 
his death, in which he was supposed to deny the need of 
regeneration as a condition of early piety. If we under- 
stood his own statements, it was the burden of his argu- 
ment on this occasion, to show that children should not be 
discouraged by theories of conversion which they cannot 
understand ; that the faults of children need no more prove 
them unconverted than the faults of adult backsliders 
should prove them unconverted ; and above all, that pa- 

* This account is taken from a journal kept by Mr. S., of winch we shall 
make frequent use. That it was written with no view to a memoir, is clear 
from his retiring disposition, from the business nature of much of its contents, 
and from the following note: " I begin this day (Nov, 27, 1850) a journal or 
memorandum of such things as for any reason I may wish to refer to in my 
daily history." 



12 MEMOIR. 

rents might and should bring up their children to be Chris- 
tians from their earliest youth. 

Along with his early religious convictions should be 
named his ardent love of liberty, and his intense hatred of 
oppression. He was but a youth, when the martyrdom of 
Lovejoy occurred ; yet he was one of those who assisted 
in receiving the printing-press, and in guarding the person 
of Lovejoy, when he fell. This youthful courage might 
have been a mere boyish enthusiasm, if it were his only 
adventure for freedom. But, viewed as part of a life of 
struggle for freedom, it assumes the dignity of a higher 
principle of action. 

For two years Mr. S. was engaged as a clerk in Alton, 
until the summer of 1838, when he fell out of business by 
the embarrassments of that period. He was absent from 
Alton for a time, at Bellevue, Iowa, but returned in the 
winter. From this time he appears to have directed his 
mind to preparation for college, with a view to the preach- 
ing of the Gospel. His application was intense, and his 
progress uncommonly rapid. In May, 1839, he went to 
Jacksonville, to continue his studies, where he was admitted 
to college in October of the same year. 

Partly from the necessity of a rigid economy, and partly 
from the peculiarities of a dyspeptic appetite, he boarded 
himself during the greater part of his collegiate course. 
He also suffered much from sickness. Once in particular, 
in his Junior year, he was confined for about six weeks, 
by a swelling or dropsy of the knee-joint, from which he 
felt frequent inconvenience in his after life, being some- 
times unable to leave his bed, and frequently preaching 
when he could not walk to his church. His privations 
from these causes were ever borne without complaint. 



MEMOIR. 13 

Notwithstanding these hindrances, he ever maintained a 
high rank in his class. " He was," says Professor Adams, 
" highly distinguished in college as a scholar. He com- 
bined, in an eminent degree, the powers of rapid acquisi- 
tion and thorough and accurate comprehension. I do not 
know that he possessed a peculiar taste or capacity for one 
study more than for another, but he excelled alike in all." 
Professor Post says of him : " As his teacher in classical 
literature, I can testify to his brilliant success and rare 
attainment in that department. I have never taught one 
who exhibited in classic scholarship such superior excel- 
lency and promise during his academic course. In this 
department his mind showed itself patient, severe in its 
analysis, quick and delicate in apprehension, and rapid and 
felicitous in combination. Nor is it my impression that 
there was a disproportionate development of mind in this 
direction. His mind, I think, was a very symmetrical one, 
both in the original adjustment of faculties/and in their 
culture. It could have been, and I think it was, applied 
with much success to metaphysical truth." And Dr. 
Edward Beecher writes : " I can truly say that, so far as I 
knew him, I was very much prepossessed in his favor. His 
intellectual powers were uncommon, and were in harmony 
with the other parts of a well-proportioned character." 

His retiring disposition, unfortunately, caused him to be 
misunderstood by his classmates. " A sensitiveness almost 
morbid," says Professor A., " made him often shrink from 
those intimacies which cement strong friendships between 
congenial minds. Some thought him unsocial, and even re- 
pulsive. But such had not learned to know his heart. 
He was not popular among his fellow-students in college ; 
but it was rather from the want of those attractive social 



14 MEMOIR. 

qualities which are prized by the young, than from any 
thing which any one could say against him. The worst 
crime that I ever heard charged against him was want of 
amiability.'' He cdds : "Most, if not all, of those who 
were alienated from him while in college, became after- 
wards his warmest friends. Through written correspond- 
ence and occasional personal intercourse, all unpleasant 
feelings seem to have been obliterated, and to have given 
place to cordial friendships. This change was partly at- 
tributable to a better understanding of his character on 
the part of others, and partly to an actual improvement of 
character, by the growth of the Christian life within him." 

Mr. S. has said, to those with whom he was most in- 
timate, that a temper naturally quick and impetuous, added 
to a nervous sensitiveness, was the great trial of his early 
life ; that few could understand what labor it had cost him 
to discipline and restrain his feelings ; and that if he had 
acquired any habitual self-control, it was due, not to him- 
self, but to the special grace of God. In his journal, 
recounting his experience after making a profession of re- 
ligion, he speaks of a late maturity of Christian character. 
He says : " Not knowing the necessity of a system of pri- 
vate devotion, I gradually fell away for several years. I 
became more and more involved in sin, though never for- 
saking wholly prayer and the reading of the Bible. After 
graduating at Illinois College, and while teaching there, 
the death of a young man alarmed me, and roused me to 
new effort. My i assurance ' was gone, and I had now to 
pray long before I could obtain it again. From that time 
I trust that, by the Divine Grace, I have been making some 
progress in the Christian life." 

The following expressions, however, written in the 



MEMOIR. 



15 



Junior year of his collegiate course, containing, perhaps, a 
presentiment of the shortness of his own life, show a very 
active religious feeling. The poetry with which it con- 
cludes is hardly equal to his subsequent efforts, yet we think 
it a note-worthy psalm of his life. 

"This day am I twenty-five years — one quarter of a century — old. 
Another quarter of a century I do not expect to see. I may consider 
my life as more than half gone. Were it but half, how vain a thing 
is life ! What have I done yet ? What have I attained ? How am 
I pleased with the joys of life, and man's earthly portion ? Is it sat- 
isfying ? Nay, emptiness and shadow, if I may judge by the past ; 
but if by the future, how different ! Oh, God ! have mercy on me 
for Jesus' sake, and forgive my sins and heal all my backslidings. 
Give me true wisdom-^a heavenly mind ; help me to improve my 
time as it flies, and to live to Thy glory ; — then, whether long or short, 
life will not be vain, nor shall I mourn its swift departure. 



" How swiftly fly 

My passing years ; 
And time gone by, 

How short ? t appears. 
The moments roll. 

The hours speed on 
Without control ; 

My years are gene ! 

" Those dreams of youth 
That shone so bright, 
The Hand of Truth 
Has quenched in night. 



Yet others shine 
As fair as they ; 

Nay, more divine — 
Of lovelier ray. 

" Oh, God of Light, 

My footsteps guide ; 
And in Thy sight 

Let me abide. 
Let all my powers 

And life be Thine, 
Till blissful bowers 

Of Heaven are mine." 



Other effusions of his muse show that in a life of ease 
Mr. S. might have made poetry for poetry's sake. But in 
a wcrld of suffering humanity this talent was specially de- 
voted to the cause of the oppressed. Called to deliver an 
address before the Society of Alumni, in 1845, he gave a 
Poem relating to the history of one of those heroes whose 



16 MEMOIR. 

exploit is to convert themselves from things into men. A 
few extracts, with an Epilogue written apparently at a 
later date, are offered to the reader. 

After his graduation Mr. S. spent a year in teaching in 
Burlington, Iowa. He was then appointed to a Tutorship 
in his Alma Mater, which he held for two years. His 
leisure was devoted to preparation for preaching the Gos- 
pel. During the greater part of this time he enjoyed the 
intimate friendship of Professor Adams and his family, 
who recognized in him " a pure and trusting heart, a kind 
and genial temper, a spirit of rare delicacy and fidelity in 
all the duties of friendship." They speak particularly of 
his love for children ; such a love as indicates the finest 
and noblest traits of character. A daughter, then seven 
or eight years of age, writes as follows : 

" I remember hearing him frequently spoken of, at the time he was 
in college, and also seeing him walk with crutches. Perhaps I 
should not remember him in college days at all, but that my sympa- 
thies were excited by his lameness. 

u I never had a kinder or warmer friend than Mr. Starr, in all my 
childish years. But he was like no other friend; and even then I 
saw the dfference as plainly as I do now. He never took it for granted 
that a child understood only nonsense, or baby-talk, but seemed 
rather to feel that the soul, unskilled in worldly wisdom, was the 
more capable of receiving that ' wisdom which cometh from above.' 
Not that he talked much, or often, to me, of my special obligations 
to God, taken singly and individually ; but often, very often, when 
talking to me on various themes, he would lead me to the love of 
God, His goodness, and our consequent obligation to return so much 
love, with love. When speaking of the wrongs and suffering which 
are the lot of many of earth's children, he would gently remind me 
of all the love and kindness which made my life a blessing and a 
joy, instead of the burden of woe which it was to others. And when 
my heart glowed with gratitude to the Giver of all good, he would 
try to inspire me with the wish and earnest purpose, to live to 



MEMOIR. 17 

bless my fellow men ; to do something towards alleviating human 
misery. 

" He was in the habit of frequently walking with me in the college 
grove, especially in early spring, when the first flowers of the year 
arose from their snow- covered tombs, and breathed in new life from 
the cool air ; and when the birds were caroling forth their joy to the 
genial sunbeams, from the half- clad trees. I had always dearly 
loved birds and flowers, and tinted clouds 5 and he sympathized so 
warmly in all my enthusiasm, that these walks were a peculiar 
pleasure to me. 

" While he encouraged and stimulated my love of Nature, and her 
forms of varied loveliness, he ever sought to bring home to -my very 
soul the truth, that all the glorious and beautiful forms of earth 
were but the visible embodiment of Divine Infinite Love. 

' : My eyes fill with tears, when I recall his constant and earnest 
endeavors to improve, as well as to interest and amuse me. He used 
to read with me, and to me, generally poetry, thus cultivating and 
developing a taste for pure and beautiful sentiment, and its fitting 
expression in language. 

" But with all his earnestness, and this constant recognition of 
higher and nobler things, Mr. S. was never stern. It was a matter of 
wonder to me that any should call him cold, reserved and repellent. 
For he was, as I knew him, in his daily intercourse in our home- 
circle, ever kind, affectionate, and warmly sympathizing. Although 
always ready, if there seemed a way, or rather, always finding a way, 
to instruct as well as amuse, yet no one could frolic with us as he 
could. My brother, two years old, always overflowing with life and 
mischief, was exceedingly attached to ' Mit Tar,' as he called him ; 
and there was never a merrier pair than we were at times. ... I 
never knew a person that seemed to have such ready sympathy with, 
and could so warmly enter into, the feelings of a child. . 

u And I never knew one that seemed to have a more delicate appre- 
ciation of the slightest kindness. I have often looked with wonder 
at his manifest emotion, at little kindnesses and attentions which 
were so trivial that I had never thought them such. . . . My 
mother knew the peculiarities of his taste, and that oftentimes he 
went without meals because there was nothing on the table that he 
could eat, and he would not complain or request a change. So I was 

2* 



18 MEMOIR. 

often the bearer of some little home charity which mother knew 
would be pleasant to him. I have often seen his eyes fill with tears 
at some such little remembrance. These visits to his room were very 
pleasant to me 5 it was always as nice and orderly as a lady's parlor, 
and its kind occupant made it seem to me one of the pleasantest 
rooms in the world. 

" I saw and appreciated his intense sensitiveness, with a child's 
quick perception, when first I knew him. I saw that many things 
which were lightly passed over by many, distressed him, and that he 
suffered far more than most persons. Not that he was often gloomy, 
or sad, or that he complained 5 but he suffered. I knew it then • I 
know now, that with his sensitive and exquisitely delicate nature, his 
high appreciation and ardent love, of all that is noble and good, and 
his consequent scorn and loathing of all that is low and mean, with 
his intense, sympathy with suffering and wronged humanity, and his 
fearless, his dauntless spirit, which could not quail before the eye of 
man, — I know that he suffered while he lived; that he could not 
cease to suffer while earth was his home ; and I feel that although 
earth may well mourn to lose such a spirit, yet for him we may not 
sorrow : that the celestial gates have opened for him ; that he is where 
' there is not any more pain. 7 ;; 

The warm emotions which appear in Mr. S.'s love for 
children, and for humanity, explain two qualities that 
mi^ht otherwise seem inconsistent — earnestness and charity. 
Both these he possessed in an eminent degree. " It was a 
necessity of his nature," says Prof. A., "to be true to him- 
self, true to the solemn convictions of his own mind. There 
was in his nature not the slightest aptitude for any easy 
conformity to prevailing fashions of thought or belief. 
Neither was he " influenced by pride of independence to 
dissent from prevailing opinions. His points of dissent 
from the usually received orthodox convictions were few, 
and in these he was fearless and independent, never cap- 
tious and quibbling. His manner of speaking of others 
was uniformly kind and charitable, even when he knew 



MEMOIR. 19 

them to be inimical to himself. I never knew a person 
who seemed to take more charitable views of the charac- 
ter of others, than he did." 

He was licensed to preach in the spring of 1846, and 
preached his first sermon at Princeton, Illinois, from Luke, 
xviii. i. : " Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." 

He spent the next academical year in attending theolo- 
gical lectures at New-Haven. Returning to Illinois, and 
suffering a short time from sickness, he preached a first 
sermon in Peoria, October 10, and remained in this place 
for a year. 

While teaching in Burlington, he had read Punchard's 
History of Congregationalism^ and " found that Congrega- 
tional principles were in exact accordance with his own 
ideas of Church polity." 

The Church at Peoria became Congregational on his 
going there, though, he remarks, he had nothing to do with 
the change. To urge such changes would not in fact accord 
with his feelings, or with the primary importance which 
he attached to the distinctive truths of the gospel. 

In July, 1848, he went to Jacksonville to be examined 
for ordination. And now came his first sore trial, as a 
lover of Christ's gospel. Suspicions of heresy were enter- 
tained against him — suspicions most potent, because even 
Protestants so little understand .what heresy is, and are 
so little agreed respecting what are the fundamentals of 
Christian truth. We will give the account of the examina 
tion in Mr. S.'s own words. 

u Some of the brethren stumbled very hard at me, because I held 
that the Holy Spirit's influences are of the nature of moral suasion 
or motion (not directly on the will) ; some thinking that 1 was £ wise 
above what is written," and that my mind was of a dangerous tenden- 
cy ; because I did not believe Christ had a human soul ; because I 



20 MEMOIR. 

believed in no supernatural call to the ministry j and one good bro- 
ther, because I did not give a full account of religious experience in 
conversion, &c, but rather stated my ideas of what it is to be a 
Christian, and that I thus tried to live. 

" My examination on the nature of the Spirit's influence in regen- 
eration was brief, and was interrupted. I cannot give a fair state- 
ment of either questions or answers. I stated in general that it was 
a moral influence, and endeavored to express this idea of it, that it is 
man who repents or converts to God, and the Spirit moves him to do 

it; 'just as you, Mr. , if you had prevailed on a drunkard to 

abandon his cups, would say that you had turned him from them — 
that you had saved him from intemperance. But in comparing the 
influence which the Spirit exerts, to that which a man may exert 
over another man, I did not say nor mean that they were in all 
respects alike, but simply, that they were alike in some important 
respects, viz : that they were both moral influences. But being inter- 
rupted and confused by two or three questioning me before my replies 
were finished, I do not know whether I fairly completed my explana- 
tions or not. 

" Question. Can you tell us your experience'? the ground of your 
hope that you are a Christian'? Answer. I found myself under God's 
government a transgressor of His law, and subject, therefore, to its 
penalty. God offered me mercy through Christ ; I felt that there was 
my only hope, and that God's words to me were worthy of confidence. 
I determined to trust myself to them, and to act upon His commands 
and promises. I did so ; and in doing so I found and do find the as- 
surance of hope. Question. What is it to be a Christian? Answer. 
It is to love God, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Question. 
What is it to love God ? Answer. To obey Him. " He that 
keepeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me." Ques- 
tion. What is your object in entering the ministry? Answer. 
To do good. Question. Do you think you can make as much money 
at it as at some other employment ? Answer. I don't know but I 
can. I should never expect to make money at any thing. I do not 
by preaching. . . .. Question. Do you think that Christians are 
called of God to the work of the ministry ? That you have a call ? 
Answer. I do. Question. What is a call ? When is a man called 
to the ministry ? Ansiver. When he has reason to think he can do 
more good in that than in any other way. A call to the ministry is 



MEMOIR. 21 

the opportunity and means to do most good in it. To do the most 
good he can is the duty of every Christian ; and when God shows a 
man that he can do the most good in the ministry, (or gives him the 
means to do so,) that is a call. Question. Can you express in the 
language of Paul what should be the Christian minister's animating 
principle ? Would you say : ' The love of Christ constraineth us ? 
Answer. I have long thought that that sentence expresses what was 
to a most remarkable degree the spirit that animated Paul, and that 
is the most powerful spring of action that can animate every Chris- 
tian in doing good. Question. If a Christian should be unwilling to 
deny himself for Christ, would it be his duty to preach the Gospel ? 
Answer. Yes ! and to deny himself also. Refusing to do one duty 
does not remove the other. This is not saying that it does not unfit 
him for it. Question. But would a man who is thus unwilling be apt 
to do much good in the ministry ? Answer. No ; he might do more 
harm than good. But he ought to be willing to deny himself, and also 
to preach the Gospel.' 7 

Here are views of the G-ospel which vindicate Mr. Starr's 
right to preach it, whatever his errors may have been re- 
specting the philosophy of it. But, by the most strenuous 
efforts of his friends who knew him best, he was barely- 
saved from rejection, and from all the calamities that might 
have resulted therefrom, either to himself or in his loss to 
the Gospel work. His own feelings, on this occasion, are 
told as follows : 

" I owe it mainly, under God, to Mr. Turner, my good and dear 
friend, that I was not cast off with a brand upon my name by that 
council, which, if it had been done, where would I now have been ? 
It would have had, I believe, a very depressing influence upon me, if 
it had not utterly turned the current of my life into another channel. 
My health was poor, my condition necessitous, my sympathies alto- 
gether with the Orthodox (as they now are, so far as respects vital 
piety) , and I see not but that a rejection by them would have been 
very calamitous. But I went to the examination with very little 
fear, and the only ground on. which I thought there was cause of 
fear was not touched at all. I had doubts about the full inspiration 
of the Scriptures, or at least about what inspiration implies ; yet on 



22 MEMOIR. 

this subject,— it seemed tome, afterward, by the directing Providence 
of God for me, — not one question was asked me." 

Whatever may have been Mr. Starr's view of inspira- 
tion, it never hindered his most devout and prayerful study 
of the Scriptures, nor his faith in them as containing the 
words of eternal life, and the only hope of a fallen race. 
And his difficulties on this subject were only temporary ; 
such, perhaps, as are felt by multitudes, when they first 
discover points of resemblance between the ecstasy of the 
poet and that of the prophet, and that the various books 
of the Bible indicate the various mental characters of the 
inspired penmen. He afterwards expressed himself as sat- 
isfied with the common view, that the inspiration which 
gave the Bible to man is special and peculiar. 

His thorough integrity in the gratitude he expresses for 
the fact that his doubts were not discovered, will appear 
from subsequent passages of his journal. The dear friend 
to whom he alludes thus describes the scene : 

" His mother was a poor widow, who went without many necessa- 
ries of life, (as we deem them.) that she might present this son, an 
educated offering, to the cause of humanity. He was dutiful, prayer- 
ful, daily Christian and devout, as well as eminently gifted and tal- 
ented, almost above all others that ever graduated at his Alma Mater. 
As son, student, teacher, tutor, and member of the Church of Christ, 
no one ever knew him to neglect either a filial, or intellectual, or 
Christian duty, which it was in his power to perform. At all the 
meetings and prayers of the Church he was always present, inter- 
ested and active. His sole ambition was to live for knowledge, for 
truth, and for Christ ; though by these statements I do not, of course, 
intend to absolve him from those ordinary and universal infirmities of 
manner or of temperament common to humanity. In other- words, 
I do not mean to say that Mr. S. was perfect as Christ was, but 
that he was a truly and eminently devoted and gifted Christian man. 

u Well, -after this ten long years of prayer and struggle, day and 
night, of this widowed mother and her devoted son, his education is 



MEMOIR. 23 

completed, and, with a heart full of joy and high hope, this youth 
presents himself for license and approval — before whom or what ? a 
Caesar? a Pope? No, but before a so-called Protestant Christian 
power, that almost every Sabbath, and every prayer-meeting for the 
whole ten years, had been exhorting him and others to this special 
service of Christ, deploring the destitutions of the West and of the 
world, the great want of talented and pious men in the ministry, and 
urging such poor widows as Starr's mother to consecrate their sons 
to the work, to contribute their mites, earned by midnight toil, to 
Education and other Societies, to raise up and educate such men. 

" And now, when this work is done, and God knows as hardly done 
as it usually falls to the lot of mortals to do it, and this son of this 
widowed mother was before them, what did this professedly Protest- 
and Christian power do ? Why, of course, you will say, it thanked 
God, praised Christ, blessed the mother and the son, and sent him 
forth with joy to his field of labor, praying the Father to strengthen 
all in him that was right, and pure, and good, and His Holy Spirit to 
purge and dispel whatever there still might be of error or evil, — that 
great good and manifold glory and blessing might through him come 
to God and man. Sure, this was all that, as Christian men, they 
could do in such a case. 

u Xo such thing. On the contrary, finding his modes of thought 
and speech differed a little from their own, they endeavored to en- 
snare him on the dogmas of their creed, about 'substances,' and 
' essences,' and ' Trinities,' and ' derivations,' and ' equalities,' and 
£ substitutions,' and ' decrees,' and ' elections,' and ' perseverances,' 
and ' outward faiths,' and ' intellectual faiths,' and ' saving faiths,' and 
no one can tell how many other faiths and follies not found in the 
Sermon on the Mount, or any other saying of Jesus or His Apostles. 
And because he proved more than a match for them all on these 
subtleties, they attempted to send him forth to the world, after his 
ten years of toil, black-balled and disgraced ; not even in pretence 
because he was deficient either in learning, talent or piety,^ but. for- 
sooth, because in these inane dogmas- he could not say l Shibboleth' 
exactly with them. They, practically, cared not at all for the ad- 
mitted fact that Christ had received him, inasmuch as in these 
dogmas he ' followed not with them.' And in despite, of the wants of 
the Church, and all this outlay for an education that totally unfitted 
him for any other business, (even if he could have brought his heart 

* For this quewtion did not remain long unsettled. 



9 4 MEMOIR. 

into it,) this power would then have turned him out upon the world, 
virtually blackened, silenced, disgraced and beggared, had it not been 
for the strenuous exertions of a few personal friends. Yet enough 
was said and done to make Brother Starr a marked and suspected 
man. And this same Protestant power did not fail to molest him 
with its invisible arts, wherever he went, whether far or near. I saw, 
with great grief, that this practical persecution was acting, and must 
continue to act, disastrously, if not fatally, upon a nature so frail and 
sensitive as his, the last time I was at his house, a short time before 
his death. ?J 

Mr. Starr was ordained on Sunday, July 16th, the right 
hand of fellowship given by the friend who sympathized 
so deeply with him in his peculiar trials. 

On his return to Peoria he suffered an attack of his old 
complaint, and, taking cold in bathing his limb in warm 
water, he was very ill for several weeks. He mentions, 
with gratitude, the gratuitous services and kindness of Dr. 
Dickinson and his wife, to himself, and to his mother during 
a period of sickness. 

Leaving Peoria at the close of the year for which he had 
engaged, he preached at Griggsvilie, October 15th, and 
engaged here for a year. In the middle of January he took 
cold while visiting his people, and was brought down with 
typhoid fever. His sickness continued nearly three months, 
and his hopes of a revival, which seemed to have really 
begun, were frustrated. 

It was in this place that Mr. S began and completed 
his series of discourses on " Faith,' which are here offered 
to the public. The first was preached September 16, 
1849, and the last, August 25, 1850. Here also he car- 
ried out his views of Congregational polity, by uniting with 
the church to which he ministered, November 4, 1849. 

On Tuesday, March 26, 1850, Mr. S. was united in 



MEMOIR. 25 

marriage to Miss Lucy Elizabeth Collins, daughter of 
Captain James A. Collins, of Griggsville, Captain C. 
had been at this time about six years absent at sea, return- 
ing in December folio wins;. 

The account already given of Mr. S.'s social character, 
shows that nothing was wanting on his part to make this 
union a happy one ; and he found in the wife of his choice 
all that he could desire, to complete the varied joys and to 
assuage the many sorrows of his life. She sympathized 
with all his free and independent views, and with all his 
most religious and most delicate feelings. She was the 
usual companion of his pastoral labors, and was ardently 
devoted to his personal comfort and welfare. She cheered 
him by her own courage, and her unwavering faith in that 
power which can overrule all events for good to those who 
trust in Him. 

For reasons which, in their beginnings, would have fcm^ffl 
another familiar chapter of Shady Side literature, but 
which grew into the dangerous rumor of heresy, Mr. S., 
after being detained a few months by the entreaties of 
friends, at length, in April 1851, left Griggsville. The 
unpleasant feeling that led to this result did not, however, 
long survive his departure ; and his subsequent visits to 
the place were occasions of delight. 

In August of the same year, he preached in Elgin, and 
was engaged for six months. He had been there but a 
few weeks when rumors of heresy began to be heard ; first 
by letter to the former pastor of the church, from a mem- 
ber of the council by which he was ordained, and after- 
wards by report from a person who assisted him on a Com- 
munion occasion, to a prominent minister. He was now 
charged unawares with " Bushnellism," and with "Uni- 



26 MEMOIR. 

tarianism." He was apprised of these charges by the 
former pastor, who became satisfied that they were un- 
founded. Upon the charge of Bushnellism, Mr. S. remarks, 
it "is totally false. When I was examined for ordination 
I had not read a word of Dr. BushnelFs theological views ; 
and now having read them, I do not agree with them." 

The charge of Unitarianism perhaps arose from two 
facts. First ; he supposed that a Unitarian might truly 
believe in and preach Christ, as the only Saviour of man- 
kind. In this view he invited the Rev. Ephraim Nute, of 
Scituate, Massachusetts, to his pulpit in Griggsville, and 
remarks in his journal that he visited him at his friend's ; 
"was much pleased ; appears evangelical and truly pious." 
Again, in preaching on the Atonement, Mr. S. dwelt more 
than many others on the sufferings of Christ, as a means 
of producing repentance. But so far was he from deny- 
ing the word of Christ to be a ground of Salvation, that 
on one occasion, the writer recollects his comparing the 
Atonement, as a ground of pardon, to the light of the sun, 
without which, repentance could no more avail than the 
moon can shine by its own light. 

But his notes on the subject of the Atonement, in which 
he has expressed his views most fully and freely, will vindi- 
cate the integrity of his faith in Christ beyond question. 
Remarking that his views on this subject had become some- 
what modified, or at least more complete," he says : 

" Now it seems to me possible for a Governor (in any and all good 
governments, divide or human) to grant to one high in dignity and 
having sufficient claims upon the government, the pardon of a repent- 
ant subject who has sinned, without at all relaxing the sacredness, 
the imperativeness of the law as the rule of the government. But 
Christ, who is sufficiently high in dignity, being the eternal and c only 
begotten' Son of God, by what he has accomplished for the government 



1 MEMOIR. 27 

of God in bringing men to repentance, in making them obedient in- 
stead of rebellious subjects, and by what he has suffered in so doing, 
has such a claim upon the government of God, and can plead his 
own sufferings to take the place of those due to the sinner.' 7 And 
again : " The sufferings which Christ's work for the government of 
God involved, entitle Him to the privilege of intercession for such as 
repent ; and it must have been, in part, because it would do so (it 
would seem) , that He undertook that work. Perhaps if He had not 
suffered, His work alone would not so have entitled Him. But ha^ ing 
suffered. He is entitled to say : Let my suffering go for the suffering 
due by the law to the sinner. The sinner now can plead what Christ 
has done and suffered for the government of God in his behalf. By 
what Christ has suffered, He has, as it were, paid the penalty of the 
law, and by what He has done He has gotten the right to plead it in 
the sinners behalf. It thus becomes safe for God to pardon for Christ's 
sake, and in His name, while otherwise it would not have been safe ; 
the sacredness, the imperativeness of the law as God's rule for His 
creatures would not have been maintained. Considered in this light, 
Christ's sufferings constitute His earthly life and death a sacrifice for 
our sins. God [knew] that they would have this efficacy of aton- 
ing for sin, and therefore designed that they should so atone. And 
His death, as the crowning act of all, may be taken to express the 
whole (even as His resurrection is sometimes taken to embrace His 
whole doctrine, because it sealed it all.) His death, moreover, was 
designed as being a peculiar appropriate form of his suffering, to 
stand for the sinner's doom. Thus was His ' blood shed for the remis- 
sion of sins.' as one and a most important end, though not the whole." 

Of the necessity of Christ's suffering, Mr. S. speaks more 
fully in the Tenth of the following Discourses, which might 
alone decide the present question. 

That he discarded all mercantile views of the Atone- 
ment, by which the very idea of forgiveness is annulled, 
will hardly be urged as an error. And respecting the 
opinion once before charged against him, that Christ had 
not a distinct human soul, it should not be inferred that 
he denied either Christ's divinity or his humanity. God 



28 MEMOIR. 

became Irnmanuel in Christ, he might say, strictly, in an 
Incarnation, (John i. 14; Rom. i. 3, 4. 1 Tim. iii. 16.) 

With one of the persons concerned in these rumors, he 
afterwards had an interview, in which, says Mr. S., "he 
acknowledged his fault, and I endeavored to remove his 
prejudices, whereupon our differences were settled, I trust 
to most hearty good will." From another person he sought 
explanation by letter, but received no reply. 

In January, 1852, he applied for admission to the Fox 
River Congregational Union. Here he encountered the 
rumors we have named, with success ; in that one vote alone 
was given against him. In his journal he says: — 

" I have reason to acknowledge the goodness of God, who turned 
aside the minds of my examiners from those points wherein their 
prejudices or views would have disallowed me; or enabled me, 
wherein they did touch any of them, to show my essential agreement, 
without their perceiving the disagreement; and who also, by His 
grace in me and in them, turned back the prejudices with which 
they apparently began their examination, and awakened favorable 
feelings. 

" I was much gratified to learn, on my return, and before the vote 
of the Union was known, that though there had been some apprehen- 
sions in the minds of many of the Church, as to how the Union would 
receive me, there was much disposition to independence of judgment, 
and to confidence in me in any event." 

On the 14th of April following, he was installed as pastor 
of the Congregational Church in Elgin, where he remained 
until his death. The sermon was preached by the former 
pastor, Rev. N. C. Clark. " The exercises," he says, 
" interested my feelings deeply, and my heart was much 
drawn out in love to my brethren in the ministry." 

We have indicated some of the points in which Mr. S. 
dissented from the prevalent opinions, perhaps all of them. 



MEMOIR. 29 

Whatever they were, we know that he regarded himself as 
dissenting only in speculative matters — forms of divine na- 
ture, and modes of divine economy and .influence, which 
like the hidden causes of the mind, are no part of man's 
necessary faith — while his entire theology brought him to 
the same practical results in which all Christians are agreed. 
As a thinker, he simply craved the liberty of coming to 
Christ by the laws of his own mind, compelling no other 
one to follow the same path, but glad to worship and to 
learn of Christ, with all his disciples, by whatsoever way 
they had come to bow before Him. Giving to Christ in 
all things the preeminence, he hoped that minor differences, 
inseparable from the lot of humanity, might be allowed. 
But he was grieved to find that prevalent theologic methods 
were decided essential to the integrity of the Gospel, and 
that the differences which he held subordinate, were con- 
sidered by others serious, if not fatal. Hence the conflict, 
of which, under the date of his ordination, he speaks as 
follows : 

c ' My mind has been considerably agitated, for some time past, on 
the subject of my theological position. When I began my course I 
had no thoughts of concealment of any of my views, and my frank- 
ness soon brought me into trouble. By the advice of friends and my 
own reflections, I became convinced that it was best I should keep 
to myself, for the present, the views I entertain, which are different 
from those of my brethren generally, and labor on with those vital 
truths in which we are agreed, and which are indeed the chief things. 
These are, the depravity of man, his exposure to everlasting punish- 
ment, the necessity of a radical change of character to salvation, 
the Deity and atonement of Christ, and the necessary work of the 
Holy Spirit. But the fact that my brethren make speculative points 
on which we differ, of so much importance in their ecclesiastical rela- 
tions, obliges me to use a sort of craft in the statement of my views, 
which is not congenial to my heart. I can so present the essential 



30 M E M 1 R , 

practical elements of my views as to cover the ground which they 
think necessary, while yet I do not imply certain other speculative 
ideas whicL they think I do. The fault of this, or this misconception 
of my views, is not to te charged to me ; but to them, as having im- 
properly mingled such speculative elements with the practical, as 
equally necessary. Still, though I need not blame myself for this 
matter, the thought that they are mistaken, deceived, as to my agree- 
ment with them on certain points which they consider essential, 
(though I feel assured they are not.) troubles me. It pains me to 
think I am not just what they think I am, and that perhaps they will 
one day be grieved by discovering it. And there is another source 
of trouble which has in it some irritating quality. It is the fact that 
I cannot speak out my thoughts like a man ; that a necessity is 
cloaked about me, under which it is difficult to maintain a true and 
manly independence of character. It renders more powerful the natu- 
ral propensity of my emotive character, to lean upon and follow 
others, and makes much more difficult that which I feel to be duty, 
and to be demanded by a proper regard for the gifts of mind God has 
given me ; namely, to be a bold and candid advocate of whatsoever 
truth I learn. 

'' I know not what to do ; but I trust God will teach me in His 
Providence. 

" I feel attached to this Church and people, and have great reason 
for thankfulness concerning the pleasantness of my situation. I have 
some love, also, for my work here — to labor in the same spirit and 
with the same great truths with which my brethren labor, for the sal- 
vation of souls and the honor of Christ. But it is hard to bear 
the yoke of bondage to ecclesiastical tyranny and to the inventions 
of men. 

" I record it here, if I should never live to make a louder and more 
powerful protest to the world, that while desiring to preach the great 
truth, with all the powers I have, that i Christ came into the world to 
save sinners,' I am bound in cruel chains by the intolerance of the 
Protestant Evangelical Church, which proclaims the right of private 
judgment as its fundamental principle, but which utterly denies the 
right to me, and to every one of its members. I can only preach the 
truth, by submitting to its judgment in other matters; if I do not 
submit I shall be disallowed in its ranks, and persecuted with all the 



MEMOIR. 31 

power it has to exert, — with excommunication, and reproach, as an 
outcast from the Church of Christ, and an enemy of God. 

u May God help me to be patient, till He shall work deliverance." 

Such feelings, in a heart so buoyant as Mr. S.'s, could 
not always be expressed in Jeremiads. He afterwards ad- 
dressed letters to a person of whose sympathy he felt sure, 
in which he unburdens his heart. This friend writes : 

" They-feel at liberty to publish them. No biography of a religious 
man ought to be written which is not thoroughly out-spoken. It is 
these concealed, half biographies of good men, which have made the 
world believe the whole matter of religious biography such a sham. 
No one wants to know Mr. S.. or any other man, as he may be when 
beatified ; but as he was here, with his struggles, and doubts, and 
fears, and all. His letters showed this nobly. As I understood, his 
doubts were not as to particular doctrines, but as to the general tone 
of liberality in our Church, he not believing in such close creeds, &c 5 
as others do." 

Of one of these letters Mr. S. retained the following 
copy: 

u Dear Sir : The reading of your late article in the Independent, 
entitled c Modern Scepticism, 7 impels me, though a total stranger, to 
this liberty of addressing you. This is a liberty which, in such cir- 
cumstances, I never used before with any one, and certainly an act 
in which I am. constitutionally, indisposed to engage : but you attract 
me too strongly for my retiracy of disposition to resist. There is, 
certainly, some sympathy between us. I was never so drawn before. 
I feel as if I must have the pleasure of some acquaintance with you, 
and thus make my suit. 

"From the very first of your communications to the Independent, 
of which I have any knowledge, I have felt this impulse. When I 
perceived in your ' Pedestrian ? letters, especially when writing on 
Germany, the astonishing fact that you believed there could be some- 
thing good, some piety even (!) outside of Puritan ideas, some religion 
without Eastern- orthodoxy, ' my heart leaped up/ as though I did 
behold : a rainbow in the sky.' ' Who is this, 7 you ask, ' that talks 






32 MEMOIR, 

thus ? Some Unitarian infidel, or what not V Sir, I am a Congrega- 
tional minister, believed to be 'sound in the faith 7 by the pious 
people to whom I preach, (who look more at practical Scriptural 
truth than at the human philosophy of it.) and loved by them, but 
looked at with suspicion by some of the Reverendi, especially Pres- 
byterians. Let me go on. 

" Well, from time to time, as your breadth of view and the sim- 
plicity of your Christian idea exhibited themselves to me, my heart 
was drawn toward you, and my hopes raised. . . . 

" I desire, if possible, some interchange of thought, some consulta- 
tion. Men who answer to my sentiments as you do, are rare to meet, 
at least in the ministry. Sectarianism, bigotry, and formalism have 
their forces combined and organized, and no man single-handed can 
make head against them. We shall be crushed and trampled under 
foot in the charge, and the cry of heretic, infidel, will be our requiem. 
If we desire to accomplish any thing for a freer and purer Christi- 
anity, we must reach out our hands to one another. So at least I 
begin to feel. I cannot altogether claim likeness to yourself. Your 
peculiar talent for mixing with men, and seeing them and working 
amongst them, I have not. I am, rather, a student, diffident and re- 
tired. But my soul beams with a hatred of tyranny, with a love of 
liberty and man. Liberty for myself I must have, or die self-consumed ; 
and I desire for others no less. My ideas are not cast in the same 
mould with all the Fathers. I do believe that theology is a legitimate 
ground for free inquiry. I scorn the assumption that those who came 
first, in darkness too, had the right to prescribe what is Scripture and 
truth to all time to come. When inspired by great truths, my soul 
is bold as a lion, and diffidence is forgot. I long to do battle for 
freedom, truth, progress — for a pure Gospel ; and this I will do if the 
Lord point out the way and give needed strength. If it were not for 
the ardor of my feelings, I should faint sometimes when I see how 
bigotry is fortified and its bands trained. My hope is sustained only 
by the belief that Providence is working with a power which cannot 
be resisted. Our equal institutions, and the ideas of the age, are 
stronger to educate than human creeds. The hootings of theological 
owls will not always strike terror to men's hearts. Surely l the Lord 
reigns ; let the earth rejoice. 7 

" Yet there is reason enough, when looking at the condition of the 
Church, to groan and weep. But this I must do all alone, for I sel- 



M E M O [ 11 . 33 

dom find one to lament with me. May I not ask sympathy from you, 
my brother ? And if there are more who feel as I do, can we not by 
some means know each other, and prepare ourselves to act together 
and sustain each other ? 

u With these sentiments in your last communication — with the great 
truths here pointed at — I deeply sympathize : ' The curse of the Ameri- 
can mind, as we believe, has been the aspect presented in a portion 
of our Theology of Deity. 7 ' The grand peculiarity of Christ's in- 
structions, and of Paul's — the elevation of character ... is 
mostly lost sight of.' 'It is not life, spirit, which tests the Christian, 
but forms, days, ordinances, creeds.' ' The entangling scientific state- 
ments — not the expression of the Bible (nor its teachings either, always) — 
the fabric of the schools, are presented as Christianity, to be sworn to 
ere one can join those who love Christ, fyc. : and most of all, before one 
can be allowed to preach in His name.' 

u With views such as these, I find myself painfully situated. Bigotry 
is all around me. It is thought there is more liberty at the West 
than at the East. With the people perhaps it is so. Yet with the 
ministry I should think it the reverse, though I cannot speak from 
much acquaintance with the East. But the handle of our pap-spoon 
is at the East, and so we have to turn our faces that way to get the 
bowl into our mouths. This makes us wonderfully orthodox. We 
must stand so straight as to lean back. Add to this the cry of loose- 
ness, from the Presbyterians, and we drive things tight enough. 

"Witness . . . the Albany Convention. 

" Would I had been there. I would have stood up and told cer- 
tain of them there was one Congregationalist at the West who would 
not ask their right hand of fellowship if they did not want to give it 
— but they might glove it from base common air and keep it to them- 
selves. 

" But how in the world do you expect, my brother, to get license 
to preach in this free country ? You are preparing to preach, are 
you not ? I hope you will not scorn the pulpit, for it needs such as 
you. How much sympathy do you find East? Is H. W. B. a man 
after your heart ? Are there more 1 But I must close. I have writ- 
ten you in confidence, and will so treat any thing you may favor me 
me with. And do grant me the favor of a reply, if possible. 

u Yours, in the love of Christ, and of the world He has redeemed, 

W. H. S .» 
3 



34 MEMOIR. 

The above letter indicates a wish that the creed of the 
Church should be more brief, and should be expressed in 
the very words of Scripture. Though he did not join 
in the cry against all creeds, he did regard the present 
creed system as pernicious in many ways. His Discourses 
on Sectarianism were not intended as a warfare against a 
formal Confession of Faith ; they bear simply against the 
present system of Confessions, by which the attention of 
Christians is diverted from the Word of God, and the 
Lord's Body is rent asunder 

In the discipline of the Church, Mr. S. did regard the 
creed as of no practical use. It was no test of piety, and 
hence no just rule for the admission of members to com- 
munion. And he remarked that it was rarely, if ever, the 
basis of accusation against disorderly members of the 
Church ; unchristian conduct, and not doctrinal error, he 
found to be the actual occasion of the Church discipline. 
Why, then, should the creed be ostensibly a rule of judg- 
ment, which in fact it is not ? 

His idea of Christian union is given in his own words. 
It is not " a mechanical and forced union of those who are 
determined not to tolerate the free exercise of conscience 
in each other. By no means. The union for which I 
look, and long, is to be brought about by a certain change of 
views among Christians; not by their coming to a com- 
mon doctrinal basis, as these words are generally under- 
stood, but by their coming to see that it is every man's 
duty to be governed by his own conscience in the fear of 
God, and therefore, that it is the duty of his brother to 
allow him to do thus. Sectarianism seems to me to be based 
on the notion that Christians must insist on other men's 
adopting their judgments. Do you ask, ' Have you no 



MEMOIR. 35 

standard, then ? Yes — implicit faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, (as the very idea of a Christian implies,) proven 
not by their agreeing to what dogmas you attribute to 
Christ, but ' by their fruits,' — penitence, love, prayer." 

These views were extended to the relations of the min- 
isters of the Gospel one to another. He was no Brownist. 
He did not affect an Independency for which the warmest 
feeling of his heart, and his entire social being, unfitted 
him. But he did deprecate those rules of ecclesiastical 
judgment by which intelligent and devoted followers of 
Christ might be condemned as unworthy to preach His 
Gospel. 

These views appear in his earliest public relations to the 
ministry. Called in the year 1850 to give the charge to a 
candidate for ordination, he says : " I told him not to hold 
back his hand of greeting and brotherhood from any who 
love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; for which he 
afterward thanked me." 

He tells us that at the same meeting in which he gave 
the above charge, another brother presented himself for 
ordination. " But he was laboring under some wrong im- 
pression, and, in his conversation with the Association, be- 
came embarrassed ; while the Association, on the other 
hand, showed the jealousy of its prerogatives and its dig- 
nity which 'place always feels, and abused him. I felt 
grieved ; for what a discouragement to young men who 
may be looking forward to the ministry ! . . . Did 
not join the Association ; could not assent to the basis on 
which it is founded, viz. : harmony of intellectual views, and 
avouchment for each other's soundness — a basis which 
makes separation from many that love Christ necessary, 
and so makes the Association a consociation ; a basis which 



36 MEMOIR, 

fetters my mind fev subjecting me to be tried for my views 
by an original body ; and a basis which requires me to do 
for other men and to ask from them what I will neither do 
nor ask, viz., vouch for the soundness in the faith of them 
or me. That is, I will not do this under the form of a 
standing organism. Individual vouchers I would not re- 
fuse to give or ask when it might seem necessary, except, 
indeed, that I do not wish to ask (if it can be avoided) any 
man to vouch for my orthodoxy, lest I should be less free 
to think for fear of injuring him by coming out unorthodox." 

This was written some time before he joined the local 
Association, as above stated. He afterwards, in April, 
1852, joined the General Association of Illinois, assenting 
to the Articles of Faith. "Yet," says he, "my belief 
on the points touched therein, (or many of them,) is quite 
different from that of many or most of the Association. I 
could so interpret the form of words as to make it express 
my views ; and as this is the fashion, I consented, with 
reluctance." 

He subsequently, upon occasion, ceased to be a member 
of the local Association, for the reason that it was more 
properly a Consociation, and became united with the 
Association of Chicago, in which he hoped to find the prin- 
ciples of Congregational polity more strictly maintained. 
With the brethren of this Association, he held the prayer- 
ful counsels which his soul craved, as a preacher of Christ, 
until his death. And, in their estimate of his character, 
when they came to mourn his loss, they were " saddened 
with the conviction, that a good man, a true man, and a 
strong man, whom the churches and the great struggling 
West could poorly afford to spare, had fallen in the midst 
of his days." 



MEMOIR. 37 

His views of the danger of ecclesiastical powei even in 
the hands of well-meaning men, are most forcibly stated 
in the following passage of his journal. It will show, also, 
that he was no stranger to prudential views and consider- 
ations : 

" July 20£/i, 1851. Have to-day been reading the defence of Rev. 
Theodore Clapp, of New Orleans, delivered in 1832, before the Pres- 
bytery of Mississippi. It evinces extraordinary and wonderful talent, 
dignity, self-command, and fearlessness, with, also, great seeming 
mildness, generosity, and forbearance : a truly, and, in general, an 
eminently Christian spirit. I have received from it impressions more 
vivid than I ever before felt of the power of slander, and of wicked 
men by it to greatly injure a good man, and with him the cause of 
Christ. And in seeing how he was slandered and abused, and the 
grounds of it, I see, too, my danger. Oh, my God ! I see to what I 
am exposed — what I may be called to suffer. But if this be Thy will. 
Lord, let Thy will be done. I trust I shall be willing to bear it. And 
do Thou teach me how to bear it, and to do no ill. 

" Mr. Clapp's defence further shows me, whether true or false, how 
extremely dangerous it is for a man of any independence of thought 
or action, in the ministry of the Gospel, to commit himself to the 
judicial authority of an ecclesiastical body, not personally cognizant 
of his daily life and words ; but dependent, first, for their hasty opin- 
ions, and, secondly, for their deliberate judgment, upon the reports of 
other men, Avhose lives they cannot compare with his, and whose 
reasons for evil speaking they cannot know certainly ; and bound, 
also, by their every position to stereotyped creeds and philosophies. 
Mr. Clapp's defence also teaches me to be very cautious about con- 
fiding to any man my thoughts about any thing or any body, where 
there is a possibility of my words being misrepresented or made a 
bad use of. Yet this caution should not be observed selfishly, or in a 
cowardly manner. Where truth needs to be spoken, let me speak 
boldly : but let me beware of merely social outpourings in serious 
matters. 

a As to the merits of Mr. Clapp's case, I can only judge imper- 
fectly, from a brief glance at the reports of the proceedings of Pres- 
bytery, but have this opinion : That he was sincere, but in the wrong 



38 MEMOIR. 

place ; that the Presbytery meant well, but misunderstood him in 
part, and, from the very necessities of their views, could not deal with 
him on what I think Christian principles." 

The invitation of a disfellowshipped minister to preach 
from his pulpit, which ceased not after his death to be im- 
plied as a generous indiscretion, should here be noticed, 
because his own defence may be" permitted to die with 
him. 

The net was censured as disorderly, or as injudicious; 
hardly as in itself wrong. But it was not disorderly, un- 
less either the Association had control of the pulpits of its 
churches, or the advocacy of doctrine condemned as heret- 
ical was contemplated. But neither of these things was 
pretended. The person invited to preach had no desire, 
from the first, to urge any peculiar views ; and that he was 
not unfitted to exhort or to instruct in the Gospel, was con- 
fessed in his being invited, directly after the act of disfel- 
lowship, by a leading member of the Association, to 
conduct the prayer-meeting of Mr. S's church. 

But it is said this invitation then was injudicious. If 
the act of disfellowship was considered wrong, there should 
have been delay until it was reversed. The reply is, the 
recovery of an ecclesiastical sanction to preach might be 
late and uncertain. And it was not essential; the opinions 
of various ministers, reported to the Association before its 
action, but unheeded, were valid, both as an ex-par te coun- 
sel, and as indicating the true import of the act with- 
drawing fellowship. 

For the real point at issue was this : Was the con- 
demned opinion heresy, or was it mere heterodoxy ! This 
distinction was made by the dissenter, in his confession of 
a changed opinion. For his new opinion he was ready to 



MEMOIR. 39 

give his reasons, and had urged his moral right to a full 
hearing. He did not, however, wish to be a burden to 
Western Congregationalism, or to press a discussion which 
might only end in a divided opinion. In view of all the 
facts, he might well suppose the Association designed sim- 
ply to terminate its special responsibility, as he was willing 
it should do, without assuming the new responsibility of 
declaring him a heretic, and as nothing less than a heretic 
could ; if at all, condemn him. 

Upon a subsequent hearing of his views, with his rea- 
sons, by a vote indecisive because informal, they were pro- 
nounced not heretical. 

About a year before his death, on the occasion of tran- 
sient difficulties in his church, he expressed himself as 
follows : 

" I feel much exhausted and weighed down. Have never had such 
desponding thoughts and feelings. It seems as if there were no place 
of labor for me in the world, and no peace ; strife and trouble follow 
upon my heels. The trouble here, combined with my usual grief and 
trial about the intolerance of Christians, added to my lethargic diffi- 
culty, make the burden more than I seem able to bear. I have been 
almost ready to renounce the ministry, at least in the regular way. 

u Have felt sometimes comfort in thinking that my Saviour was 
1 a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief/ and that I should not, 
therefore, expect a better lot. ;? 

His Discourses on Sectarianism were delivered not long 
after this time ; and they will show how unselfish were his 
griefs. In addition to rumors of heresy, he suffered, per- 
haps, no more than the greater number of pastors, from 
the tale-bearing which is inseparable from the spirit of 
sect. Yet his sensitive nature and chafed feelings uttered 
no unchristian murmur. He alluded to his troubles rarely; 
and never except for some purpose of duty — to correct an 



40 MEMOIR. 

error with kindness and truth. On one occasion he urged 
from the pulpit the "Duty of Not Believing," with refer- 
ence to the evils we have named, in an effective discourse, 
without harshness, and without gainsaying. And in pri- 
vate he never spoke bitterly of those who troubled him. 
" Many times," says an intimate friend, " I have felt really 
amazed, when I have been conversing with him in the retire- 
ment of his pleasant study, and have alluded to the diffi- 
culties that hedged his toilsome journey down the path 
of life — and never could induce him to manifest even 
some faint sign of proper resentment of unmerited con- 
tumely." 

"We should not have told the story of his griefs so fully, 
if it had not a moral. But we should fail to set forth the 
lesson to be learned from his life, if we did not make the 
burden of his life apparent. We honor the prophets un- 
truly, if we remember not their lamentations ; and we 
do not hasten " the good time coming," if we seem to 
say that the present time is well nigh faultless, or that men 
of progress find these to be clays of ease. And we have 
written the more freely of his sorrows, because he was so 
void of personal feeling to be gratified, or sinister purpose 
to be promoted, by such a record ; — and still less, because 
we would resent, in his bohalf, the injuries which he could 
only forgive. In so far as he suffered purely for the sake 
of Christ and the Gospel, a mitigation of the evils which 
he saw and felt is the only reparation which can be de- 
sired- But evils, like virtues, become perfect through suf- 
ferings, whose faithful story is also their dirge. 

And now, having been assured that his home and his 
study were the abode of peace, let us look in upon him 
there, and inquire what were his familiar thoughts and ways. 



MEMOIR. 41 

His home was the picture of neatness and quiet, where 
friend and stranger were ever welcome. Time did not 
permit his last earthly residence to become what he de- 
signed ; but its tidy comforts were due, in large measure, 
to his industrious skill. In person, he was slender, and 
below middle stature ; his aspect was youthful, often to his 
disadvantage, when manhood and age seemed alone want- 
ing to enforce his counsels. His bearing was ever digni- 
fied ; his look slightly forbidding, as that of one in earnest, 
or of abstracted thoughts — yet very affable, a pleasant 
talker, and often full of humor. He loved a hearty laugh. 
We recollect the delight with which he repeated the story 
of one of Isaac T. Hopper's boyish freaks, and the 
roguish sympathy he felt with old Isaac, telling the story 
himself. He could talk nonsense, but he never trifled. He 
seemed ever conscious of a Heaven above him and a world 
around him, between which his being was divided. He 
entered heartily into the wants and feelings of all ; none 
could be with him without a quickening of the finer feel- 
ings and nobler aspirations. 

With his dear companion, he visited freely and affec- 
tionately with his people. But his loved work was to think 
of Christ and His truth, in the retirement of his study. 
As life advanced, all minor pursuits gave way to the study 
of the Scriptures, which he daily perused, both in the 
translation and in the original, with great care and delight. 
A most intimate friend testifies that " his life was a life of 
earnest, importunate prayer ; and that from this source he 
derived the suggestion of his best and most profitable pub- 
lic discourses.' 7 His special preparations for the pulpit 
were rapidly made, and they uniformly possessed unity and 
energy, showing a vigorous mind and a glowing heart. 



42 MEMOIR. 

One of the friends who has spoken of his mental quali- 
ties, thinks his mind could have been, and was directed 
with much success to metaphysical truth. His Discourses 
on Faith, will, we trust, confirm this opinion, and none 
the less because thej were designed for the general reader. 
But his most nice researches in this department of truth 
were left incomplete. On the subject of mental philosophy 
he had made voluminous notes, which he hoped at some 
day to digest into a work for publication. It is interest- 
ing to observe that in this region where religion so often 
appears lacking, or rather where the lack of religion so 
often appears, the piety of Mr. S. seems most natural. " I 
wrote this morning," says he, under date of November 
1850, " my note on the source of the sentiment of right 
and wrong. Felt grateful to God that, as it seems to me, 
I have been able to understand and unfold this most im- 
portant subject, which has been involved in so much dark- 
ness and caused so much perplexity." 

The notes of Mr. S. on this central question of morals 
are interesting, not because they are new, though original 
with him, but as showing the teeming activity of his in- 
quiries on all connected points. His view on the point 
named, is, we think, substantially as Dr. Hutcheson's theo- 
ry of the moral sense. " The feeling of obligation is one of 
the natural susceptibilities of the mind, just as love or anger 
is." It is " a moral instinct, strictly emotive in its nature." 
" The sense of beauty in the mind is a natural sentiment, 
consisting both of a natural perception and a corresponding 
or answering feeling. Just so the sense of right and wrong 
consists of both the moral perception and the answering 
emotion." But these statements did not begin to exhaust 
the subject, in the mind of our young philosopher. What 



MEMOIR. 43 

is to be said of an external standard of right 1 What is 
the highest good ? If it be happiness, how is the duty of 
the creature related to the happiness of the Creator ! What 
is goodness, as distinct from simple justice? Is the dis- 
tinction between these the same in man as in God 1 What 
is the nature and bound of a creature's right to happiness ? 
Where does benign justice end, and grace begin? How 
does authority, or the power to enforce a law, affect its 
justice ? What is the relation of hope and fear, to the mor- 
al character of an act 1 It is strictly true that " con- 
science does make cowards of us all ;" or is that cowardice 
the better part of heroism % How is moral action related 
to influence, either from a fellow-man, or from God % A 
human soul, subjected to a certain measure of evil influ- 
ences, will certainly sin. Is it equally certain that, sub- 
jected to a given measure of good influences, it will do 
right % 

By these and a thousand other like questionings, cher- 
ished in no idle curiosity, but in view of man's nature as 
basely fallen from an infinitely glorious destiny and redeem- 
ed again therefor, Mr. S., we think, fairly challenges the 
title of Thinker. The form of these notes indicates the 
habit of the author's mind — evidently penned under the 
impulse of rapid thought, without present care or method, 
Sybilline leaves they would be, if the thread of argument 
and a little after-thought had not connected them. The 
bent of his mind toward such inquiries was also in perfect 
keeping with a disrelish for what we may call ecclesiasti- 
cism. Much as he suffered from that power, and deeply 
as he deplored, for Christ's sake, the evils it wrought, it 
was never a favorite subject of his studies. Hence, while 
on rational grounds, and in the interpretation of the Scrip- 



44 MEMOIR. 

tures, he was able to oppose all its claims, he was less pre- 
pared to answer it from the facts of history, and from its 
own documents. He knew it mainly as a congeries of mod- 
ern customs ; of its want of authoritative decisions and 
precedents he was, like many others, not always aware. He 
sought, not authorities, but truth ; and while he read much, 
he thought more. To all externalities, or questions of out- 
ward order, that can only breed disorder, he preferred no- 
bler themes of meditation and discourse. Well might he 
have answered in the words of Leighton, when his friends 
thought him indifferent to the secular interests of the 
Church, that " while so many were zealously preaching up 
the times, it might be permitted to one poor servant of 
Christ to preach up Heaven and eternity." 

He did not indeed preach up " the times ;" yet he was 
truly a man for the time in which he lived. In all his 
studies, he never forgot that he was connected by a thou- 
sand ties to the race of mankind. His high and religious 
sense of humanity made him a Preacher ; and he entered 
the sacred desk, fervid with the prayerful meditations of 
his study, a preacher of righteousness. 

Holding the Gospel as the only hope of a fallen race he 
shrunk not from applying its principles to all the relations 
of human duty. Most of all did he " remember those in 
bonds, as bound with them," pleading their cause as those 
whom Christ had redeemed, and protesting earnestly, upon 
every new occasion, against their oppressions. The last 
discourse to which he set his hand, and which he never 
lived to finish, was in view of the passage of the Nebraska 
Bill, that has since brought the country to the verge of civil 
war. And whatever human interest he sought to advance, 
he ever spoke in the name of Him who died for man. His 



MEMOIR, 45 

theme, and his manner, found their dignity in the faith of 
Him who hath in all things the just preeminence. 

Professor Post, from whom the reader has already heard 
of Mr. S. as a scholar, speaks of him also as a preacher, 
and an inquirer after truth. He says : 

u Of his general character and success as a minister of the Gospel, 
others, from nearer and constant observation, can speak more fully 
than myself. I can only say. that all performances by him in the 
pulpit and on public occasions, to which I had opportunity to listen, 
were of high grade and promise, both intellectual and rhetorical; 
they were marked with true originality and independence of thought, 
and yet with great candor ard earnestness. He ever impressed me. 
both in private intercourse and in the pulpit, as a sincere, honest, in- 
dependent and intrepid thinker — blending much simplicity and godly 
sincerity with high intellectual power. He seemed to me an earnest 
seeker after truth, single-minded, resolute and conscientious in its 
pursuit, and in the utterance of what he supposed it to be. If mis- 
taken, or impracticable, or one-sided in his views. I felt his Christian 
ingenuousness, earnestness, and honesty ; and his simple and humble 
piety gave assurance he would ultimately rectify what was amiss, 
and complete what was defective. I felt he sincerely sought God's 
aid. and wished to know and utter His Truth, and that he was one 
whom God would help. He aimed too, I believe, to do God's will, as 
well as to know it. Practically, he was an honest, earnest, God- 
loving man. He knew not how to temporize or conceal. The dan- 
gers in his case were ever in a tendency to the opposite and nobler 
extreme. 

" I felt, when startled by the sorrowful tidings of his premature 
death, that one had gone who was ripe for an exchange of worlds, 
but in whose early decease the cause of Christian truth and man- 
hood had suffered a great loss." 

A number of the friends who knew him well in Elgin, 
prominent citizens and members of the church to which 
he ministered, have borne similar testimony to his virtues. 
They say : 



46 MEMOIR. 

" He came among us, a stranger, but his purity of character, and 
his earnestness in the advocacy of truth in all its relations to the 
highest interests of mankind, soon won for him the esteem and re- 
spect of numerous friends, who will never cease to cherish the warm- 
est regard for his memory. Rarely have we met with one possessing 
so many excellencies of character qualifying him for usefulness — so 
much gentleness, sincerity, and true piety, combined with uncommon 
intellectual culture and talents of a high order. 

" In our judgment, it would be doing great injustice to the memory 
of Mr. Starr, to convey the impression that he was one of the ordina- 
ry type of ministers who occupy our Western pulpits. He seemed to 
understand and appreciate the spirit and wants of the age, and took 
a broad and liberal view of all subjects which relate to the welfare of 
man. He was unusually free from all bondage to creeds and opinions, 
and jn his public as well as private teachings endeavored to promote 
and encourage in others the same freedom of thought which he him- 
self exercised. He believed in progress, and that all men should be 
free — and hence he was earnestly opposed to the exercise of mere hu- 
man authority in matters of religion. It may be truly said of him, 
1 He spake not what men, but what he, thought.' This seemed to re- 
sult from his perfect sincerity, truthfulness, and honesty, and not from 
any desire of distinction. He was one of those who are willing to be 
wiser to-day than yesterday. And, like all men of large soul and 
liberal views, he was tolerant of the opinions of others, condemning 
no one for his honest convictions, however erroneous. He was bold, 
free, and untrammelled in the advocacy of whatever he believed to be 
right ; and though naturally disposed to be at peace with all men, 
without giving offence to any one, he could not withhold what seem- 
ed to him important truth, when the occasion demanded that it should 
be spoken. 

" Temperance, Anti- Slavery, and all other movements for the eleva- 
tion of humanity, found in Mr. Starr a warm friend and earnest ad- 
vocate. Practical Christianity was far more important in his view 
than forms of doctrine ; and hence he was always ready to extend 
the right hand of Christian fellowship to all who gave evidence of 
Christian character in their lives, without requiring them to accept 
his own peculiar views of theology. Although few men possessed 
more acute and discriminating minds, or were more familiar with all 
questions of technical theology, yet regarding the simple and practi- 



MEMOIR 47 

cal teachings of Christ as containing all that is essential to true re- 
ligion, he opposed all systems and forms which require conformity of 
belief in mere theological dogmas and non-essential matters of faith. 
a This communication can give but a faint conception of his real 
worth. But enough has been stated to show that he was eminently 
fitted for usefulness, and that the Church and the world sustained a 
serious and irreparable loss in his death ; for such men are much 
needed in the ministry at the present day, and seldom found. While 
we mourn for his loss, it is gratifying to know that the influence of 
his teachings and example is still felt for good in the community, and 
wherever he was known." 

The depressed feelings of Mr. S. in view of the evils of 
sect, and of the suspicions which annoyed him, were renew- 
ed on the occasion we have adverted to, shortly before his 
death. His views of Christian liberty were misunderstood ; 
his defence seemed to be heard reluctantly ; " a heretic has 
no rights," said he, —and he thought the rule of the civil- 
ians respecting the ninety and nine guilty and the innocent 
one, was reversed in ecclesiastical jurisprudence. In a 
letter to a friend, under date of February 21, 1854, after 
speaking of his inclination to quit the Church, he says : 

" An expression in your letter has helped me to right myself, how- 
ever. It is best for me, I suppose, and it is the correct principle, that 
I should not leave the Church till I am driven out, b lieving it to be 
indeed of Christ's body ; and, within certain limits, I must submit to 
every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake. Neither am I bound, 
as I see, to divulge my philosophical opinions to my brethren (if I 
can have patience to hold them in) , because they have deceived them- 
selves about them ; but as long as I can stay in the Church, and work 
for freer and more charitable principles in it, I ought, perhaps, to do 
so. It would be a great deal easier , less trying to the spirit, to leave 
at once and set up for myself; for then I might obtain tolerance, as 
of a distinct sect, and be kindly regarded and treated, instead of 
being watched and waylaid, as a suspicious character in the sect. 

u Many a good man has had to endure hardship, and to wait long 



48 MEMOIR. 

for vindication and truth's triumph — yea, many have closed their eyes 
upon the world before it came. . . . 

" Dear brother, let us strive, and pray for greater holiness. For our 
dear Master's sake, let us endeavor to keep our spirits subdued to 
the sway of love. . . . ' Rejoice in the Lord alway/ my brother. 
It is not what we do^ but what we are, that most concerns." 

These were the beginning of his last words. Death was 
already on its way, taking, in its course, the spirit of his 
mother-in-law, Mrs. Jane S. Collins, who had died on 
the 23d of January. In a hurried visit to the paternal 
roof, Mr. S. and his sorrowing companion had looked 
upon the face of the dead, returning to Elgin on the 10th 
of February. With the note of this event, and of a mar- 
riage in his parish, a few days after, his journal closes. 
The next parting and reunion were to be his own. His 
work was done. 

On Friday, the 24th of February, he was quite unwell, 
and would frequently leave his study, and try to dissipate 
his feelings by conversation or some light employment. 
The next morning a physician was called. On Monday, 
he thought his recovery doubtful, but said to his wife : 
" Have no fears for me ; it will be well with me." The 
next day his disease proved to be that most dreadful 
malady, the small-pox. Wednesday morning he desired 
to look out at the window, and remarked, " How pleasant 
to see the light of a beautiful morning once more." But 
at night he became delirious, and continued wandering 
during the greater part of the day following. On Satur- 
day he was much better, and dictated to his wife a message 
to his people, respecting a series of meetings which he had 
expected would be held. That night his tongue began to 
falter, and, with the closing hour of Monday, March 6 th, 



MEMOIR. 49 

shortly after his last word, that he was " better," his voice 
was hushed in death. 

"And when I learned, a few days after,'' says the 
friend who knew his trials best, " that God had removed 
him by a sudden and unexpected disease, although I 
mourned his loss as my dear Christian friend, I, in spite of 
myself, blessed God that He had taken him away from the 
evil to come." 

A dear friend offers the following appropriate tribute to 
his memory : 

Farewell, true heart ! Thou hast found thy rest. A Father's man- 
sion is opened unto thee. A Saviour's arms are ready to enfold thee. 
The joyful award, "Well done, good and faithful servant," is 
already thine. He whose faithful minister thou wast on earth, has 
released thee early from thy toil, and called thy spirit from its earthly 
tabernacle to His own blessed abode. 

Thou wast by nature too sensitive long to bear the shock of life's 
stern battle ; too fearless in urging thy Master's cause, to escape the 
shafts of bitterness aimed at those who fear not man, but God. A 
faithful watchman upon the towers of Israel, thou wast a shining 
mark for the arrows of envy and detraction. An earnest seeker after 
truth, thou couldst not escape the assaults of bigotry. Self-sacri- 
ficing and artless, thou couldst not contend against the craft of 
worldly wisdom. Faithful and uncompromising, thou couldst not 
please the time-serving and the fearful. Yet so gentle and winning, 
that all who loved thy Master, or sought His grace, might take new 
courage at thy cheering words. 

Thou hast left friends — tried and trusty, while thou wert with them, 
and whose hearts beat more quickly now, as they remember thy labor 
of love and thy earnest ministry in spiritual things. Thou hast 
friends who forget not the words of life thou didst speak — nor the 
bread of life, which, in humble imitation of thy Master, thou didst 
offer to all who loved Him, serving and obeying Him. Friends and 
kindred hast thou left, who love thee truly, who think of thee daily, 
whcse hope and prayer is to follow thee in thy example, and to meet 
thee again in thy reward. 



50 MEMOIR. 

Many souls there are in which the seed thou didst freely scatter has 
taken root, and sprung up, and borne fruit abundantly, — choking 
the foul weeds of sin and error, bringing them out from bondage into 
the liberty of Christ. These shall be gathered for thee in the Har- 
vest, and the joy of thy labor shall be full. 

Sleep on then, Brother ! and take thy rest. "We sorrow not for 
thee. Thine is the gain — the loss is ours. And while we grieve for 
ourselves, we forget not that divine wisdom will }et solve the 
mystery of thy removal from us : for, our Father doeth all things 
well! 

A beautiful monument has been erected by his beloved 
congregation, with the following inscriptions : 

REV. WM, H. STARR, 

PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN ELGIN. 

Born at Middletown, Conn., April 27, 1817. 
Died at Elgin, III.. March, 1854. 



Translated from the troublous pilgrimage of life, our friend and 
teacher " sleeps well." Some few of those who revered and appre- 
ciated the sainted dead, while he traveled the thorny pathway of life 
uncomplainingly, and full of Christian faith, have erected this mon- 
umental marble and consecrated it to his memory, securely relying 
on that blessed promise of Holy Writ which applies to him who has 
gone before to the unreturning tomb. 

" The teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; 
and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, for ever and 
ever." 



Call it not vain; they do not err, 
Who say that when a teacher dies, 
Religion mourns her worshiper, 
And celebrates his obsequies. 

"We entertained an angel unawares." 



PASSAGES FROM 



THE FUGITIVE." 



A NARRATIVE POEM. 



' Open thy mouth for the dumb ; plead the cause of the poor and needy." 



"'Twas evening of a golden summer day. 
Beyond where rolls Missouri's turbid flood, 
A scene of nature's vast magnificence, 
Where heaped her bounties and her beauties lay, 
Glowed in the sunset flush ; nor earth alone, — 
But cloud-built piles hung in the liquid blue s 
That arched above, reflecting fulgent hues 
That made the air a glory and a joy, 
And lured the eye to gaze, and heaved the heart 
With gladness and thanksgiving. Is there one 
Whom Nature moves not with her evening smile ? 
Can any look upon a scene so fair, 
Nor feel the mantling glow from field and cloud 
Stealing upon his soul, until it flames 
With pleasure like their own ? And where's a heart 
Could lie in shadows, 'mid a radiance bright 
As this ? Sweet radiance ! that seemed lingering long, 
As if unwilling to forsake or mar • 
Such beauty. Who, with sorrow's tones, could bring 
One jar upon the faultless sweet accord 
Of that high hymn of Nature to her God ? 
Alas ! there was a man that moved through all, 
Untouched by one sweet sympathy of joy. 



52 PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIVE. 

Forest and plain, and mountain- clond gold-dyed, 
He heeded not, nor thought of loveliness 
Or praise ;— and why ? His heart is all too full 
Of some strange sorrow, shutting in his sense." 

This creature had a human form, and soul, and love for 
wife and child ; and they 

" Were well — -and now of his fast coming steps 
Expectant smiled. In him, then, why such grief? 
I said, a man. Yes ! God's hand made him so : 
But man ! man's laws — oh, Heaven ! — made him a thing ! 
Not man, nor ox, nor dog ; nay, not a plough, 
Or hoe ; — but a poor, lone, unclassed something, 
Without a name but for that one word, slave. 11 

He resolves upon escape : 

" I'll go, then, though the way is crowded thick 
With every danger ; freedom is the prize 
I run for ; they, for blood ; and shall I not 
Outstrip them in the race ? 

Setting out with wife and child, he crosses the Missouri, 
and the "Father of Waters," with the help of rude rafts, 
and begins to feel that he is free. But not yet. Even in 
a land consecrated to liberty, 

" A law is writ 
Which says, The man who dares be black, must be 
A slave, unless he prove that he is free. 

Oh, blasphemy upon the form of man ! 
The work of God ! Prove that the stars are pure ! 
Prove that the Heaven is high, and God dwells there. 
But ask not for the proof that He has made 
All human souls with human rights, — lest thou 
Seem not a man, and God deny thy claim 
To that sweet mercy He for man has wrought." 
" There is -a law, another law, which says — 



passages from the fugitive. 53 

Give not thy hungering brother bread — shield not 
The homeless stranger — tell him not his way — 
Nay, rather, if the starving wretch ask help, 
Chain him, and sell him, for a wandering dog. 
Great God ! and yet the grass grows green ! and yet 
How canst Thou see't, and hold Thy lightnings back! 

After a fine paraphrase of Matt, xxv., 34 — 43, the poem 
advances to a conclusion : 

" There are, who for the right scorn the world's sconij 
Despise its threatening wrath, and will not be 
The truckling minions of tyrannic wrong. 
And they will help — and thou, brave man, shalt go, 
With the dear sharers of thy toils and hopes, 
Safe to unshackled freedom.' 7 

The epilogue appears to have been added at a later date. 
We give it entire. 

" Thus, friends and fellow-freemen, thus, 
The hunted slave appeals to us. 
Thus Christ's own warning in our ears 
Is sounded, to assure our fears 
Of His dread vengeance for the wrong 
That through the earth has triumphed long, 
Thus his blest promise pleads, again, 
To lift the yoke and break the chain. 
But oh ! Thou God of glory, see 
Men mock and spurn Thy high decree ; 
And, with the trump of law, proclaim 
Their wrathful scorn upon Thy name. 
A nation, leagued, now dares defy, 
Great God, the lightning of Thine eye ; 
Uses the power which Thou'hast given, 
To rend the statutes of high Heaven, 
Proclaim Thy law repealed, and those 
Who dare obey it, wrath- doomed foes. 

Our tears no more we now must shed 
O'er pity banished, jnstice dead; 



54 PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIVE, 

No more must feel the prisoner's sigh ; 
No more must hear the wanderer's cry; 
The outcast, hunted and betrayed, 
By deed, or word, or look, to aid ; — 
Nay. not to join the onset made. 
Is treason now ! and death the doom ! 
Room for the hangman, freemen ! room ! 
The law commands, and we must fear. 
Senates are God's vice-gerents here : 
Nay, higher than God's throne appear. 

My country, is it thou, hast dared 
Defy God's arm of vengeance bared? 
And shall thy sons the horror crown, 
And the rebellion make their own ? 
Say, Christian freemen ! shall we yield 
Our manhood's arms in such a field ? 
This law's commands, say ! shall we fear ? 
Are Senates God's vice-gerents here? 
They may crush the weak, and help the strong. 
But can they alter right and wrong ? 
Can they turn God's wrath into a smile? 
Or make that pure which He made vile ? 
Can human Senates break His rod ? 
Can Congress change the law of God ? 

Not so our fathers judged, who strove 
For the freedom they have taught us love, 
? Gainst king and senate, arms and laws ; 
Battling 'gainst power, in manhood's cause. 

No human laws can change the right ! 
Here kings have no power, armies no might. 
Nay, right and wrong, men once did own, 
Eternal are, as God's high throne ! 
Not God Himself can loose their bonds ! 
In their dread might His kingdom stands. 
He sways His sceptre by their laws ; 
Thus Heaven He saves, and hell He awes 
Provoke not, then, their awful power, 
Nations, or men : their vengeful hour 
Ye cannot ? scape, nor fly their doom ; 



PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIVE. 55 

Their strength is resistless, their hour will come. 
'Tis God who wields their sovereign might; 
Ye cannot shun His piercing sight. 
Repeal the wicked law ! the guilt, 
The deepening, blackening, gathering guilt, 
Of blood, in Moloch's conquests spilt, 
Of justice turned aside for gold ; 
Of freemen into bondage sold; 
Of prisoners bound, and hurried back, 
To die on Slavery's lingering rack; 
Of sundered ones, 'whom God had joined," 
Without one farewell word, consigned 
To life-long severance in the home 
Of darkness, whence no tidings come ; 
Of weeping girlhood dragged to shame ; 
Of cruel wrongs without a name ; * 
Of hopeless sorrow, groans and tears. 
Through the long agony of years ; — 
This guilt, this dreadful guilt, is yours 3 
My countrymen, while still endures 
That wicked law by which 'tis wrought ! 
'Tis yours, unless, remitting not, 
You lift your voice, and stretch your hand, 
To drive it from this groaning land. 
The wicked law you fail to oppose 
Stands with your virtual assent. Woes 
You might, but will not, aid to heal, 
'Gainst you to Heaven make just appeal. 
Go ! blot that law from off the page 
Stained with its record ! Let the age 
No more such shames and miseries know ; 
Forget all meaner strifes, and show 
Your first love is for freedom! Let 
Thy freeman's soul be firmly set, 
That the glad day shall hasten, when 
Freedom has conquered ! 

And, till then, 
Go aid the feeble captive's flight ; 
Give food and shelter ; for the right 



5 r 6 PASSAGES FROM THE FUGITIVE. 

Dare all things — so, God's hand shall bless 
Thee, in thine hour of deep distress. 

Go ! speed the fugitive along, 
Till he, too, shall begin the song. 
Glad freedom's song, on the strange shore 
Where slavery's minions chase no more. 

Oh, when shall the children of Africa be 

All thus rejoicing in songs of the free ? 

When, when shall the voice of a loud jubilee 

Roll over the land and over the sea, 

Proclaiming the tyrant's chains everywhere broken, 

And the glad word of brotherhood everywhere spoken? 

When the tears of the slave shall no more wet the sod, 

Nor the billows of ocean be stained with his blood ? 

When the earth shall bear up on its bosom no longer, 

The wretch who shall claim, by the right of the stronger, 

His perishing brother to trample in dust ? 

Oh, God, Thou art holy ! oh, God, Thou art just ! 

Look down on a nation revolted from Thee, 

And that which Thou biddest forbidding to be, 

The ' throne of iniquity ' building ' by law,' 

And binding the poor for grim lust's bloody maw. 

In mercy and truth, let thine arm be made bare ; 

The prisoner lead out from the house of despair ; 

' Break the arm of the wicked ; J ' the rulers ' high born, 

Who i counsel together,' oh, i laugh them to scorn.' 

Great God, Thou art holy ! great God, Thou art just! 

The friend of the captive — in Thy name we trust : 

The glad day of Freedom — it will come, it must 



DISCOURSES. 



DISCOURSES. 



DISCOURSE I 



Faith — Its Nature — Importance of the Subject. 

John vi. 29 : "Jesus answered and saidunto them, This isthe 
work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." 

This is the answer to a grave question. " What shall 
we do ¥' cried the half- convinced, yet still-doubting Jews, 
to Jesus, the Holy One of Bethlehem ; " what shall we do 
that we might work the works of Godf ' and "what shall 
we do?'' echoes a groaning world in every age. What shall 
we do to accomplish the great end of our being, to secure 
its highest perfection, to obtain the favor of Him who 
made us, to " work the works of God ?" Tell us, thou 
Nazarene, thou meek and mighty One, tell us, — What 
shall we do ? 

Believe ! is the reply, from the lips of grace and truth ; be- 
lieve on Him whom God hath sent." It is the answer for 
all ages and all climes — the central truth of Christian doc- 
trine, echoed by Holy Apostles and Martyrs, witnesses for 
the truth, who sealed it with their blood, and sung its praises 
with dying lips — " this is the work of God, that ye believe 
on Him whom He hath sent." 

"Fie that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; 99 he 
that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath 



60 DISCOURSES. 

of God abideth on him." " If ye believe not that I am he, 
ye will die in your sins." 

What, then, is it to Believe? — If faith in Jesus 
Christ is a matter of such consequence, what is Faith ? 

The answer to this question should not be difficult, for 
the Lord Jesus Christ certainly intended to give a plain di- 
rection to those who inquired of Him the way of life. And 
in other matters men know well enough what it is to be- 
lieve. But upon the subject of faith in Christ, and reli- 
gious faith generally, so much obscurity has been cast, 
that, while nothing is so much written and spoken about, 
nothing is so little understood, and scarcely anything so 
misrepresented. Who that has read the hundredth or the 
thousandth part of what has been printed upon this sub- 
ject, in sermons, in newspapers, in pamphlets and books, 
but has deeply and painfully felt how much obscurity rests 
upon it, and how many absurd things are said about it ; 
and who that has read with a spirit anxious for its own 
profit, or its salvation even, or that it might know how to 
direct the inquiring soul, anxious to learn just what faith 
is and how the soul can believe, but has felt how utterly 
unsatisfying are the definitions and directions commonly 
given ; nay, how, as he read, obscurity oft-times grew more 
obscure, and " confusion worse confounded?" 

The obscurity with which this subject has been invested, 
or the confusion in which it has been involved, has been 
productive of evil to the cause of Christ in many ways. 

It has " given occasion to the enemy to blaspheme." 
Faith has often been spoken of as though it were some- 
thing altogether separate and apart from reason ; and as 
if, in believing, a man left behind him the dictates of his 
understanding and went upon some other basis. How 



DISCOURSES. 61 

much occasion has thus been given to unbelievers to sneer 
at and reproach the religion of Jesus, and how often they 
have acted upon it, few, probably, are aware of. 

" Our religion," says the infidel Hume, in his " Essay on 
Miracles," " our religion is founded on Faith, not on reason ; 
and 'tis a sure method of exposing it to put it to a test 
which it is by no means fitted to endure." " Mere reason 
is insufficient to convince us of its veracity ; and whoever 
is moved by faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continual 
miracle in his own person, which subverts all the princi- 
ples of his understanding." 

How much mischief this blasphemous sneer has accom- 
plished by planting the seeds of infidelity in cultivated and 
superior minds, we cannot estimate ; but we can easily see 
what occasion has been given for such sneers by the terms 
in which faith has been spoken of frequently by professed 
believers. 

The distinguished Brewster, in his "Life of Sir Isaac New- 
ton," speaking of the great man's religious belief, says : 
n The inquiring spirit will explore the history of a mind so 
richly endowed, and will seek the shelter of its authority 
on those great questions which reason has abandoned to 
faith and hope." 

If this is sensible language, — if reason has abandoned the 
great questions of religious belief, surrendering them to some- 
thing that is called faith and hope, methinks " the inquir- 
ing spirit" might naturally ask one question more : of what 
greater " authority' is the mind of Sir Isaac Newton on such 
matters than the mind of an idiot ? And if religious questions, 
the very highest and most momentous that occupy the mind 
of man, may be settled by abandoning reason and resort- 
ing to faith, why may not all other questions be settled in 



62 DISCOURSES. 

the same manner, and man define himself to be a credulous 
animal, whose business it is to believe every thing and 
prove nothing ! whose highest excellence consists in having 
the longest creed, embracing the most innumerable beliefs, 
of things possible and things impossible, things imaginable, 
and, if there be such things, things unimaginable? How 
can we wonder, when such language is used by believers, 
that they are reproached by infidels with credulity f 

But it is not Sir David Brewster alone who speaks after 
this manner. We hear similar language on every side of 
us. Upham says, in his " Life of Faith," " if faith did not 
carry us beyond the reach of our own understanding, be- 
yond the line of human reason it would not be faith ;" 

and in this way speak many others.* 

It is not to be denied, indeed, that each language is some- 
times designed to express a real truth ; but such a form of 
expression is unphilosophical, growing out of an indefinite 
apprehension of the nature of faith, and leading often to great 
error. Never, until men understand better what faith is, 
and so perceive its relations to reason, will they cease to 
deceive themselves by such expressions, or be able to avoid 
and refute the sneers of infidels. 



* Bacon. — " The use of reason in spiritual things, and the latitude thereof, is 
very great and general : for it is not for nothing that the Apostle calleth religion 
our reasonable service of God; insomuch as the very ceremonies and figures of 
the old law were full of reason and signification, much more than the ceremonies 
of idolatry and magic, that are full of non-significants and surd characters. But 
most especially the Christian Faith, as in all things, so in this deserveth to be 
highly magnified ; holding and preserving the golden mediocrity in this point 
between the law of the heathen and the law of Mahomet, which have embraced 
the two extremes. For the religion of the heathen had no constant belief or 
confession, but left all to the liberty of argument ; and the religion of Mahomet, 
on the other side, interdicteth argument altogether; the one having the very face 
of error, and the other £>f imposture: whereas the Faith doth both admit and 
reject disputation, with difference," — Advancement of Learning. 



DISCOURSES. 63 

There is a class of men at the present day who make 
great claims to learning and philosophy, that are especially 
at fault in this matter. The transcendental religionists 
talk loudly in praise of faith ; tliey divorce it entirely from 
the understanding, however, and seem to give up the ground 
of maintenance of religious truth by appropriate and sub- 
stantial evidence, laying the basis of faith in an asserted and 
peculiar constitution of soul itself. Faith with them seems 
to be a distinct sphere of mental action from the exercise of 
reason and choice, a separate capacity of soul from all 
others. Its exercise proceeds from itself alone, indepen- 
dent of all other faculties.* But if this doctrine is true, 
all reasoning about the great fundamental truths of religion 
must be at once abandoned. Man's understanding must 
no longer be exercised upon those themes once esteemed 
the highest objects of mental activity ; and if any man doubt 
the reality and truthfulness of those objects from not perceiv- 
ing any such out-goings of faith in his own mind, he 
must be left to himself with the information that these are 
not appropriate subjects for investigation and argument ; 
that " our holy religion is founded on Faith, not on rea- 
son ;" and that '• it is a sure method of exposing it, to put 
it to a test which it is by no means fitted to endure." 

We must say, that the man who believes such a creed 
as this, gives some evidence of a faith possessing a peculiar 
claim to be considered as distinct from the exercise of 
reason. 

From the errors and absurdities which have now been 

* To this divorce of Faith and Reason applies the remark of Locke, that those 
■who are for laying aside the use of Reason in matters pertaining to Revelation, 
resemhle one who should put out his eyes in order to make use of a telescope. 
And that of Leibnitz : u II est vrai que de notre temps une personne de la plus 
grande elevation disait, qu ; en article de foi, il fallait se crever les geux pour 
voir clair." — Nouveaux Essais. — [Ed. 






64 DISCOURSES. 

noticed, if they are errors and absurdities, a correct and 
definite apprehension of the nature of faith would free the 
minds of men ; and this alone can do it. But these are 
not the only evils from which men would be delivered by a 
better understanding of the nature of faith. 

The confusion and obscurity which prevail in relation to 
this subject, work evil also to the sincere inquirer and the 
true believer. It is not to be supposed, indeed, that men 
do not know practically what it is to believe ; but many 
have heard so much said about Christian faith, and in such 
sort, that it seems well nigh impossible for them to apply 
their own practical knowledge to the subject, and to real- 
ize that it is only that simple thing which it is. 

Penitent seekers of salvation by Christ have often been 
told that they must believe, and yet that they could not 
believe ; — that speculative faith would not answer, but they 
must exercise a true and hearty faith ; that what such a 
faith is, however, no one could describe to them, nor could 
they know or understand it till they had acquired it, with- 
out knowing how, — like shutting a man up in a horrible 
dungeon, and telling him there was a way of escape, but he 
could never find it till he saw it, and could never see it till he 
had first found it. And in this way many a man has been 
kept for a long time in an agony of suspense and fear, who 
all that time was virtually a believer and justified before 
God, having practically all of faith except its peace. 

And if many such a soul has not thus been driven back 
into rebellion and open inddelity, it is because the abound- 
ing grace of God alone has prevented. 

Many inquirers, again, have been told what faith is in 
such terms, as rendered what was before dim, now wholly 
obscure. The difficulty is not explained — the precise thing 



DISCOURSES. 65 

is not pointed out which they must do; and it cannot be, 
until the nature of faith is analysed and its elements dis- 
tinctly marked. One of them comes, perhaps, saying : 
" The doctrine that Christ died for me, my understanding 
assents to as true, but my heart finds no comfort in it : 
you say this intellectual assent alone is not true faith ; 
what more then shall I do to believe f" " You must go 
to Christ," is perhaps the reply. " Well, show me where 
He is," and I will gladly go to Him. " But this is a figure 
of speech — you must not take my words literally." " Yery 
well, then ; explain your figure of speech — show me how 
I must go to Him." And here likely enough the reply is, 
you must go to Him believingly." That is, " to have faith 
in Christ," is " to go to Him believingly," — a very intelli- 
gible definition. 

The want of a clear understanding of what faith is, how- 
ever, and what are its relations to the Christian system, is 
not alone a source of difficulty in the case of inquirers ; it 
is a fruitful source of mischief to thousands of professed be- 
lievers, and of injury and dishonor to the religion they pro- 
fess. Something which is called "faith" has been too gen- 
erally substituted in the Church for true piety and genuine 
righteousness. Men have thought, that to be worldly-mind- 
ed, proud, angry, and vindictive in temper, selfish and un- 
just, though not so well, is still not positively inconsistent 
with the religion of Jesus, provided they have " faith." 
They have imagined they might be neglecters of God and 
not lovers of men, did they only- " believe." They have 
thought that " faith*' would suffice instead of meekness, pa- 
tience, purity, and genuine benevolence of heart, and thus 
they might sail smoothly into the eternal haven with a 
righteousness not their own ; a figment of an unholy heart 
and a disordered brain. 

4* 



66 DISCOURSES. 

There are, it is to be feared, many such u believers" at 
the present day in a certain quarter of the Church, where 
the highest " orthodoxy" is set up, and where the all-suffi- 
ciency and the alone-sufficiency of faith are most loudly 
proclaimed, and where men turn their fellow-men to chat- 
tels, sell the image of Christ for God, make gain of the 
sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, — " I believe in Him 
of Calvary." 

And so in all quarters of the Church are men found, who 
think they may be on the side of the oppressor ; they may- 
be governed by the maxims of this world instead of the 
teachings of Christ ; they may be proud, selfish, sensual, and 
yet their " faith" shall save them. 

" Can faith save them?" u If it hath not works, it is 
dead :" " the devils also believe, and tremble :" " by works a 
man if justified, and not by faith only." So teaches the 
Apostle James ; and what vaunter of his faith will dare 
dispute him ? 

Such a state of things in the Church as has been spoken 
of, has naturally arisen, by human depravity, from the im- 
perfect, partial view of faith which Luther had, in con- 
nection with the importance he assigned to it in his 
theological system. Luther had undoubtedly grasped a 
great truth, and hejwse4e-a mighty work with it. But 
both he, and theologians generally, since his day, have seen 
this truth indistinctly and partially, and hence error has 
been mixed up with their teachings, and mischief has 
grown out of error.* 

* This censure is warranted by the following expressions of Luther: " Ita 
Tides, quam dives sit homo Christianus; etiam volens non potest perdere salu- 
tem suam quantiscunque peccatis, nisi nolit credere. Kulla enim peccata poi- 
Bunt damnare, nisi sola incredulitas." — De Cajptiv. Bab., torn, ii., fol.264. " Esto 
peccator et pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo, qui victor est pec- 
cati, mortie, et mundi : peccandum est, quamdiu hie sumus. Vita haeo non est 



DISCOURSES. 67 

It is not true that the Roman Church, before Luther, 
did not hold the doctrine of justification by faith. In the 
early ages of that Church, justification, by faith in Christ, 
was distinctly maintained. Gradually, however, works of 
penance were added to the requirements of their doctrine 
of salvation, and Christ was more and more left out of 
view. Then the doctrine of purgatory was adopted, and 
applied to the purification of " believers " who died with 

habitatio justitiae ; sed exspectamus, ait Petrus, coelos novos, et terrain novam 
in quibus justitia habitat." — Epist. ad Melancthon. 1521; Jena, 1556. u Si in 
fide fieri posset adulteriurn, peccatum non esset." — Disput. torn, i., p. 523. 
Cited by J. A. Moehler, Symbolism, ch. in., § xvi. '' Believe firmly that thou 
art absolved, and thou art so, whatever be thy contrition.'" — Serm. de Indulg. 
Cited by Bossuet, Variations of Trot., Bk. i., § ix. 

The obvious antinomianism of these expressions is corrected in the Augsburg 
Confession, in an article cited by Bossuet; yet it has not failed to give just 
offence to the Romanists. 

The half-truth contained in the last passage, which Luther has put in the form 
of a dangerous error, is restored to its true connexion in the following beauti- 
ful passage of Neander, which is pertinent to the difficulty just stated (p. 16) : 

" The law always presents itself as imperative, and makes the salvation of men 
dependent on the perfect fulfilment of all its commands. ; Do all this, and thou 
shalt live.' But since no one can fulfil these conditions, the law can only pro- 
duce despair. But the Gospel addresses the man who despairs of himself, ' Do 
not give thyself up to the feeling of despair. Ask not how thou canst make the 
impossible possible. Thou needest only receive the salvation prepared for thee ; 
only believe, and thou hast with thy faith all that is needed for thy inward life.' 
Paul admirably illustrates this, by applying to it the passage in Deut. xxx., 12 : 
1 Say not to thyself, Who shall ascend to Heaven, and prepare a path for me 
thither ? For Christ has descended from Heaven and has prepared such a path. 
To ask such a question, is to desire that Christ would descend again from Heaven 
for thy sake. But say not, Who shall descend for me to the regions of the dead, 
and deliver me thence ? Christ has risen from the dead, and has delivered thee 
from the power of death. To ask this, is to desire that Christ might now rise 
from the dead for thy sake, as if He were not- already risen. Instead of asking 
such questions, only let the Gospel be cherished with vital power in thy heart ; 
believe in Him who descended from Heaven and rose from death, and thus ob- 
tained salvation for thee. Whoever has this faith is truly pious, and may be 
assured of salvation/ ;: — Planting and Training, Bk. vi., ch. i. 

For other instances of the sundering of Faith from Morals, see Appendix. 
Note 6.— [Ed. 



68 DISCOURSES. 

unexpiated sins, while all unbelievers were assigned to eter- 
nal perdition. 

Thus it came to pass that in the days of Luther the chil- 
dren of " the Church " were held to be saved from everlast- 
ing woe through their "faith" though needing works of 
penance to save them from purgatorial fires, while unbe- 
lievers were held doomed to inevitable perdition. 

The Romanist's justifying faith, however, at the time, 
was not generally the right kind of faith. It was faith in 
the Church, faith in her so-called '* saints" and her " holy 
Virgin," instead of faith in Christ. Luther preached faith 
in Christ only, for justification ; and faith in Christ alone \ for 
complete justification. This was the difference. 

But Luther's position compelled him to lay much stress 
upon justifying faith ; and in so doing he obscured his 
view of faith, as a general principle, magnifying the rela- 
tive importance of one of its activities, and overlooking or 
failing to see the rest. 

Theologians in Protestant communities, since his day, 
have been coming out more and more from under the 
pressure of Romanist ideas which caused this tendency in 
Luther's mind ; yet for a long time they followed in his 
footsteps, not having, like the great Reformer, capacity to 
strike out for themselves a new path adapted to their own 
circumstances. 

The consequence, in part, has been from the very fact 
that circumstances have not required so great stress, or 
rather so much insisting, on the doctrine of justification ; 
that the continual harping upon it, in some quarters, has 
caused a still more unequal estimate of its relative import- 
ance, and a neglect of the other equally essential doctrines of 
true repentance and a holy obedience. One of the activi- 



DISCOURSES. 69 

ties of faith has been insisted on at the expense of the others ; 
one has been exalted and the others depressed. Hence has 
arisen that practical mischief of which I have spoken, in 
which men have substituted justifying faith instead of 
sanctifying faith — that "faith that works by love and pu- 
rifies the heart/' I know it will be said by some that the 
faith of such men, who live not according to the Gospel, is 
not sincere — not true faith ; but I am prepared to show that 
it is or may be sincere, and a true faith, while at the same 
time it is an impious presumption before God, and cannot 
justify, because " faith without works is dead," profitless, 
and "by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." 

Before closing these remarks, there is another reason, 
which should be mentioned, for desiring a solution of the 
question, "what is faith V and that is found in the indis- 
tinctness which prevails as to the perception of its moral 
quality, or wherein its moral quality consists. 

Much has been said to explain why God requires faith 
of His creatures, what is the virtue of it, wherein it is a 
holy exercise ; and, as far as my knowledge extends, 
without distinct and perfectly satisfying results. 

But a distinct, analytic knowledge of what faith is, 
would certainly answer this question, since the knowledge 
of all its elements and sources involves the knowledge of 
that element or motive source which constitutes it an exer- 
cise of virtue. And it is hardly too much to say, that this 
knowledge cannot be obtained in any other way than by 
the analysis of faith itself. It will not, surely, be doubted, 
whether such a knowledge is desirable. How else, except 
by mere general analogy, can we answer the cavils of a 
man who demands that God should give him certain 
knowledge as the ground of His action f and how else 



70 DISCOURSES. 

can we attain full satisfaction for ourselves, and assign to 
faith its proper place in the moral system of God's realm? 
Analogy may silence our objections ; it cannot satisfy our 
doubts, or our desires to understand. 

I have now made some allusion to the confusion and in- 
distinctness in men's ideas, generally, of faith, and endea- 
vored to present to you some reasons which seem to demand 
a more thorough and definite analysis of its nature. It 
is my design, under Providence, to prosecute this subject ; 
and, in the second place, to test some of the various defini- 
tions which have been given of faith ; thirdly, to give a 
new definition of it ; fourthly, to test that definition ; 
fifthly, to show when and how faith has moral quality ; 
and, sixthly, to show the various applications of faith, (in 
other words, the various kinds of faith,) their moral qual- 
ity, and the character they give to the soul, — including its 
application to natural and to spiritual things, and the fact 
that all religious acts are wholly, or in part, acts of faith ; 
also, faith in God, His truth and Providence ; and faith in 
Christ, regenerating, justifying and sanctifying, with spe- 
cial reference to the doctrine of the text, that Christ is the 
great object of faith by which the world must be saved. 

I conclude my present remarks with one observation. 
The view which we have taken of the obscurity and error 
which prevails on the subject of faith, shows us the import- 
ance to religion of a true and intelligible philosophy of 
mind. It is only by understanding the nature of his soul, 
and its ways of action, that man can settle those great 
questions which are constantly arising, touching the nature 
and the ground of obligation, and touching the corres- 
pondence, therefore, of revelation, to the laws written in 
the structure of the soul. The fact that all these ques- 



DISCOURSES. 71 

tions run back, at last, to the nature and laws of mind, 
and the fact that man is capable of introspection, and so 
of learning the nature of those laws, sufficiently demon- 
strate the need of a true philosophy of mind, at least on 
the part of all those who would be teachers of religion or 
morals, and help thoughtful and inquiring spirits onward 
in their way to glory. Let no timid and narrow-minded 
believer, then, try to lay his embargo upon thought, and 
object to the young preacher of the Gospel, that his 
mind tends too much to philosophy. There is a true phi- 
losophy, as well as a false ; and if a sincere and honest 
heart cannot find it, or help to find it, then woe be to this 
world, for the philosophy of Heaven shall not prevail, but 
the philosophy of earth shall fight against it, and against 
the kingdom of our Lord, for ever. May God forbid, for 
His name's sake ! 



DISCOURSE II 



Faith — Definitions Examined. 

John vi. 29 : " Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the 
work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" 

The inquiry raised in the former discourse upon this text- — 
the inquiry, " What is it to believe f — ought not, as has been 
stated, to be difficult of reply ; for the direction in the text 
was intended by our Lord as a plain answer to the mo- 
mentous question which had been asked Him. Practically r , 
as has also been observed, and naturally, the direction 
would not be difficult to be understood ; but owing to the 
peculiar circumstances in which the great doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith in Jesus Christ struggled into light in 
these latter days, and the coloring with which that doc- 
trine became consequently invested, a mystery has been 
thrown around the simple form of faith, both in theory, 
and by natural result, in practice. 

Having considered this fa^t, and the mischiefs resulting, 
from it, and the need consequently arising of a better un- 
derstanding of the nature of faith, we come now, 

II. To examine some of the answers which have been 
attempted to this question : in other words, to test some of 
the definitions which various writers have given of faith. 

It should be observed here, that, subjectively considered, 
or with reference to the mind, two kinds of faith are gen- 
erally acknowledged, one of which is called " historical," 



DISCOURSES. 73 

or " speculative," consisting in a bare assent of under- 
standing to an alleged truth, with or without some corres- 
ponding emotion ; the other is the kind of faith spoken of 
in the Scriptures, and with which our present inquiry is 
wholly concerned. This latter, or Scriptural faith, is of a 
practical or voluntary nature, as appears from three consider- 
ations : first, we can conceive of no sort of faith which 
shall differ at all from a mere "historical faith," except one 
which shall contain a voluntary element ; second, the 
Scriptures evidently treat the faith of which they speak 
as a practical matter- — as something which men volun- 
tarily exercise, or refuse to exercise — " this is the work of 
God, [i. e., what G-od requires] that ye believe : " if ye be- 
lieve not. . . .ye shall die in your sins ;" and, thirdly, no 
otherwise than as a voluntary affection, can faith be a vir- 
tuous exercise, or a matter of obligation.* 

Scriptural faith, then, or that with which our present 
inquiry is wholly concerned, is a practical or voluntary 
faith, as distinguished from a mere historical belief. This 
being premised, let us notice some of the definitions which 
have been given of it. These definitions, however, we 
must here observe, are none of them general definitions of 
practical faith ; but only, so far as I have seen, definitions 
of that particular application of practical religious faith, by 
which a man is justified before God, — variously termed 
evangelical, justifying, or saving faith. This want of a gen- 
eral definition of practical faith, seems to have given rise 
to the error, among theological writers, of confoundirg all 
kinds of religious faith, or all those exercises of faith 
spoken of in the Bible, with that particular application of 
it by which is procured the forgiveness of sin. Not see- 

* See a few opinions cited in support of this view, Appendix, Note B, 



74 DISCOURSES. 

ing distinctly the nature of faith itself, they have failed to 
see distinctly the nature of its different applications, and 
their different objective and subjective effects. Not seeing 
that justifying faith is only one of these applications, and 
purely objective in its consequences, they have sought to 
give such a definition of it as would embrace all the exer- 
cises of religious faith and all its consequences. 

Thus, one says, " justifying or saving faith is an entire 
confidence or trust in God's character and declarations, and 
in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unre- 
served surrender of the will to his guidance, and depend- 
ence on his merits for salvation," Another says, " saving 
faith is a realizing, cordial (or confiding) belief in (or assent 
to) the entire testimony of God." 

These definitions plainly include almost all the forms 
and exercises of religious faith — faith in the holiness of 
God, faith in His infinite knowledge and power, and in His 
Providence, as well as faith in His atoning sacrifice. But 
though the former are all necessary in the justified soul, 
just as repentance is necessary, yet it is manifestly faith in 
the atonement alone that delivers from the penalty of past 
transgressions ; and this alone, therefore, is properly called 
"justifying faith." 

But if the definitions noticed embrace most or all kinds 
of religious faith, may they not be taken as definitions of 
religious faith in general, and may we not examine them in 
this light % What, then, shall be said to them as such ? 
u Religious faith is a confiding belief in, or assent to, the 
entire testimony of God." 

This definition may be correct, but it is of no value, ex- 
cept to the compiler of a dictionary. It is not philosophi- 
cal, but lexical. It does not analyze faith, and so show us 



DISCOURSES. 75 

what it is, by revealing the parts of which it is composed ; 
it only calls it by another name. It does not reveal to him 
whose understanding assents to the truth that Christ died 
for him, but whose heart dees net feel peace in it, how he 
must obtain that peace — what he must do to believe. It will 
not instruct the believer, nor aid the inquirer, nor answer 
any religious purpose. 

The other definition is somewhat better, as it makes an 
attempt, at least, at analysis : " Confidence in God and His 
Word, and submission of will to His guidance." 

But there are difficulties with this, also. In the first 
place, it is not sufficiently analytic, and does not show the 
relation even of the parts mentioned, to one another- 
" Confidence," as here employed, denotes, evidently, a com- 
plex state of mind ; and, supposing it to be easily under- 
stood, yet the great question is, how does it arise in the 
mind, and what is the relation between it and the act of 
the will 1 Must one feel perfect confidence before he sub- 
mits to God % How, then, shall he feel it ! If he has it 
not, and it does not come from the act of the will submit- 
ting to God, how shall he attain it, so as to exercise faith % 
If it does come from the act of the will, how ? and what, 
in this case, is the act of the will based on ? The defini- 
tion throws no light on the subject. Indeed, it seems 
rather to convey the idea that the feeling of confidence 
must precede the act of the will and be the basis of it, and 
so makes faith an impossibility where confidence does not 
first exist. 

Again, this definition does not express the grounds of 
faith— its relation to reason and to virtue. If it be said 
that the grounds of faith are implied in the mention of the 
character and declarations of God, it must be replied, on 



76 DISCOURSES. 

what principle are we to believe the evidence for the as- 
serted character and declarations of God, rather than the 
evidence against them? There is no hint, in the definition, 
of the existence of such a principle ; and no hint, there- 
fore, of the ultimate grounds of faith, or its ultimate rela- 
tion to reason and to moral excellence. This definition, 
therefore, is not sufficient. It will not instruct the be- 
liever, nor help the inquirer, nor silence the infidel. 

It must also be said, that while it is too general for jus- 
tifying faith, it is not, in strictness, sufficiently comprehen- 
sive for a definition of religious faith, since it will not ap- 
ply to faith in the existence itself of God ; which is, in- 
deed, the corner stone or the sub-stratum of all other ar- 
ticles of religious faith. 

The same objection applies also to the definition previ- 
ously noticed, and to several others which may now be 
given. " Faith," says a distinguished teacher of theology, 
"is a firm, cordial belief in the veracity of God — or a full 
and affectionate confidence in the certainty of those through 
which God has declared, and because he has declared 
them." Says another, "Faith is an affectionate practical 
confidence in the testimony of God." 

But, taking these definitions even in the extent to which 
they are applicable, the same objections apply to them as 
the one first treated. They are not analytic. They merely 
substitute " confidence" " or belief" for^the word "faith," 
and add a few epithets which distinguish Scriptural from 
historical faith, without pointing out the elements of that 
distinction or of the faith so distinguished. They do not 
tell us what " practical confidence" is, nor how it is more 
intelligible than practical faith. They do not instruct the 



DISCOURSES. 77 

believer, nor direct the inquirer, nor silence the infidel. 
They are of some use doubless to the lexicographer !* 

"The faith of the Gospel," says Dr. D wight, "is that 
emotion of the mind which is called trust or confidence, 
exercised toward the moral character of God, and particu- 
larly of the Saviour.'' 

If the word " emotion" is here used in strictness, the 
definition is not correct, for it excludes the voluntary 
element which always enters into Scriptural faith. But 
if the word be taken loosely, to denote a complex state of 
the mind, the definition, like the others, is only lexical, 
while it is more faulty than the others in being more re- 
stricted in its application. 

Another definition of faith is, " an influential belief of the 
testimony of God." This plainly means a belief which in- 
fluences the mind to action ; and is the same with the fol- 
lowing definition, which is also found — " that firm belief 
of God's testimony which influences the will." Plainly, 
these definitions entirely exclude any voluntary element 
from faith itself, holding the volition to be only the result 
of faith. 

But passing over this error as perhaps only an inaccu- 
racy of language, the great objection to these definitions is, 
that they make the determination of the will wholly a con- 
sequence of the feeling of confidence, and thus cut off all 
possibility of believing from those who have not that feel- 
ing ; at least, until in some unknown manner they have 
obtained it. This is saying to such persons, that their dif- 
ficulty or their sin does not consist in their not believing, 
— for they cannot believe ; but in their not doing some- 
thing else which would make them believe — which is absurd. 

* These writers and some others define faith as if it -were belief only in the tes- 
timony or in the veracity of a person or persons — which is too narrow. 



78 DISCOURSES. 

Other definitions of saving faith are, that it is " coming 
to Christ," " looking to Him," "receiving Him." But 
these are only lexical definitions, couched in figurative 
language, and needing explanation at least as much as the 
thing defined. 

One further definition only will I now notice, and it is 
one far superior to the others. It is found in Tholuck, in his 
note on John iii. 36, and is as follows : " Faith is a sub- 
mission to something which is objectively higher in respect 
to knowledge and will, and therefore includes obedience." 
That is, as I understand it, faith is a determination to do 
the will of one seen to be superior in knowledge and good- 
ness. The excellence of this definition consists in the fact 
that it exhibits distinctly the voluntary element of faith, and 
as proceeding upon a proper ground. It says to that class 
of inquirers who assent to the wisdom and goodness of God, 
and yet are not believers, " go, act upon it, submit to His 
guidance, and obey him, and you will be believers." Herein 
it says truly ; and the truth is a most valuable one. 

But it has also some defects. It does not seem, indeed, 
to be designed as a general definition of religious faith, but 
only of one form of it — that faith in the Son of God by 
which we receive the gifts of God's grace flowing to us 
through him. It is not, therefore, sufficiently abstract to 
answer the purposes of a general definition, and does not 
throw such light upon all the questions concerning faith 
as we desi: e. It does not exhibit the nature of the connec- 
tion of faith and reason. In other words, it does not point 
out the nature and conditions of that intellectual assent 
which it supposes, nor its exact relation to the act of faith. 
This intellectual assent is acknowledged to be involuntary ; 
and behind this fact the unbeliever sometimes shelters him- 



DISCOURSES. 79 

self, and denies his obligation to believe ; and without a 
better knowledge of the whole nature of faith we cannot 
dislodge him. An exact comprehension of the nature of 
the assent and of the whole ground of faith, as we shall 
see hereafter, would drive out the unbeliever from this 
hiding-place, and silence the sneer of the infidel ; but that 
comprehension this definition does not give, and though 
it gives the ground of faith, it does not give it analytically, 
and show us those elements which it is necessary to see. 

The definition is also incomplete, if regarded as a phi- 
losophical definition, because it gives no account of the 
feeling of confidence which is an element in religious belief, 
nor of its relation to the act of faith. 

"With these defects, however,* the author spoken of is 
not chargeable, as he had not undertaken to give a general 
and philosophical definition of faith. 1 speak of them 
only as things wanting to our knowledge, and which that 
definition, excellent as it is, does not supply. Let me, how- 
ever, give it the praise to say, that if I have fallen upon a 
true account of faith, that definition was one of the steps 
that led me to it. 

In the discussion of the various definitions of faith which 
have now been noticed, my remarks have been protracted 
to a greater extent than was at first designed. But they 
will not prove without profit, if they have so convinced 
you of the real need of a better understanding of the sub- 
ject than has generally prevailed, that you will be prepared 
truly to welcome any new light which may be thrown upon 
the subject, and to treasure up in your hearts the truth. 
For great will be the bearing of that truth upon your des- 
tiny in this life and in that which is to come. Faith is 
the foundation-wall of religion, the great totality of godli- 



80 DISCOURSES. 

ness. " If ye believe not, ye will die in your sins." And 
yet, notwithstanding the magnitude of this subject, and the 
many attempts which have been made to elucidate it, a 
writer of some eminence, who has doubtless read with at- 
tention most of what has been written upon the nature of 
faith, uses this language concerning it : " While, by turn- 
ing the mind in upon itself we know what faith is, p. e. 
every man knows practically what it is to believe,] we 
are nevertheless not able to define it."* 

But the difficulty is, perhaps, not so great in the pre- 
sent state of knowledge, as this writer has supposed. A 
definition can be given, I trust, which will silence the infidel, 
satisfy the philosopher, and be intelligible to a child. For 
the present, however, I conclude with a single observation. 

In view of our discussion, we see a remarkable illustra- 
tion of the adaptedness of the Gospel to human wants ; — 
that while so much obscurity has prevailed theoretically 
on the nature of faith, thousands and ten thousands of the 
simplest minds have been taught of Christ practically to be- 
lieve," and believing have rejoiced, with joy unspeakable 
and full of glory." The difficulties which have been thrown 
in their way may have hindered or obstructed many, but 
they could not wholly prevent the efficacy of the mighty 
drawing with which He who was " lifted up" has " drawn 
all men to Him." Christ is not only the great object of 
faith, but He is also the great source of faith, the mighty 
argument of a God of grace, who careth for the creatures 
He has made. " Blessed are they that have not seen " Him" 
and yet have believed." And to " Jesus, the author and 
finisher of our faith," be everlasting thanks from innumer- 
able hosts of His redeemed. Amen ! 

* Upham's Life of Faith, p. 15. 



DISCOURSE III. 



Faith — True Definition. 

Hebrews xi. 1 : "Now faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" 

Having noticed, in the two former discourses upon this 
text, the obscurity which prevails respecting the nature of 
Faith, and having examined such definitions of it as have 
been accessible to me, I come now, according to the plan 
proposed, 

III. To set forth a new definition of it. 

It will be remembered that two kinds of faith have been 
noticed in the course of this discussion, viz. : (1) historical 
or speculative faith, consisting of an intellectual assent to a 
proposed truth, with or without such emotion as such a 
truth fitly produces in the mind, according to the state of 
that mind ; and (2) Scriptural faith, which was shown to be 
a voluntary, practical faith. 

With the latter alone, as was also stated, we are at 
present concerned. It is Scriptural, practical, voluntary 
faith, of which we now seek a definition. 

It is proper here to premise, that the object of faith is 
always — to speak with philosophical accuracy — some- 
thing set forth as a truth. It is common, indeed, to speak 
of beings and entities as objects of faith, and the language 
is therefore proper, though not designed as philosophically 
exact. Thus, we speak of faith in God. But by this Ian- 

5 



82 DISCOURSES. 

guage we mean some truth set forth or asserted concerning 
God; — either His existence, or His goodness, or His prov- 
idence over us, or some other truth ; or, perhaps, all of 
these. So, too, the sick man may say that he has faith in 
a certain medicine : by which he means, he has faith in 
the supposed truth that this medicine has curative power. 

Faith, then, let it be remembered, has always for its ob- 
ject something set forth as a truth ; or, to use a more con- 
venient expression, some proposed truth. 

In defining faith, I propose now to give, in the first 
place, a complete and philosophically exact definition, which 
will exhibit the whole subject ; and, after elucidating this, 
to add a more brief and simple definition, exhibiting the 
voluntary element perspicuously, or -just what one must do to 
believe ; and this will be intelligible, I trust, to every mind, 
even that of a child. I observe, then, practical faith is a 
complex state of mind, consisting of an intellectual assent 
to the probability of a proposed truth, or of the evidence 
by which it is supported, with the determination to act upon 
it, in view of said probability, and of the motives by which 
it (the truth) is accompanied, and with a corresponding 
emotion of the heart.* 

* A twelfth Discourse was presented by the Author, on the subject of faith, 
consisting mostly of recapitulation . In the form of notes, and inserted extracts, 
it may partly answer the purpose of the revision which he designed. He says : 

" In addition to what has now been said, it should also be remarked, that when 
faith in general is spoken of in the inspired writings, it is not faith in general 
which is meant, nor even, with one or two exceptions, religious faith in general ; 
but faith in some particular truth 

" The same thing is true, also, in many of the religious writings of our times ; 
and the fact that the writers generally do not themselves perceive it, that they 
do not distinguish between the general principle of faith and those forms of it 
which they have mentioned, is one of the causes of the confusion and obscurity 
so common in their ideas and language. One man may have faith in the un- 
varying goodness of God ; another, in the all-disposing providence of God ; 
another, in His ordering all events to carry out perfectly His own desires ; and 



DISCOURSES. 83 

In elucidation of this definition, it will be necessary, 
first, to notice the nature of evidence, and the fact that 
there may be probable evidence both for and against a pro- 
posed truth. 

Evidence in behalf of any proposition, consists in an 
array of facts which necessarily or apparently involve in 
them the truth of that proposition. If it be seen that that 
truth is necessarily involved, i. e., that the contrary is im- 
possible, the evidence is called demonstrative. Such is the 
evidence by which mathematical propositions are sup- 
ported. 

But, an array of facts may apparently involve a certain 
truth ; that is, it may be seen that that truth will, wholly 
or in part, account for those facts, while no other truth is 
seen to be certainly the true account of them. This is of 
the kind called probable evidence, to distinguish it from the 
other, called demonstrative, and is of the kind upon which 
most human actions proceed.* 

[Most, if not all, the truths upon which men are called 

another, in His power and purpose to recover this world from sin. All these are, 
truly enough, men of faith — that is, of a certain kind of faith. But they should 
not all be spoken of in the same terms, as though their faiths were identical ; 
for the faith of one is a very different thing from the faith of the others. 

" Faith may consist in an individual act, or in a continued state of mind; 
either way, it is composed of three elements : an intellectual assent to the prob- 
ability of a proposed truth, with a determination to act upon it, and accompany- 
ing and resulting feeling of assurance therein." 

* " Probability is the very guide of life." This statement of the author of the 
"Analogy" cannot be objected to if it receive a common-sense interpretation. 
It can only be abused by utter perversion into the Probabilism of the Jesuits. 
We are told, indeed, by the author of " Letters, from Spain/' that the Probabil- 
ioristae, or those who insist on taking the more probable side, are scarcely better 
than the Probabilistae. "The French proverb, he mieux est Vennemi du Men, 
is perfectly applicable to the practical effects of these two systems in Spain." 
But this results from sheer indifference to truth, or a love of the probable be- 
cause it is uncertain. — [Ed. 



84 DISCOURSES. 

to act in this world, are probable truths ; that is, they are 
not necessarily true, to human knowledge ; their contrary 
is possible. There may be, also, in the case of many, some 
evidence against their reality ; but there must be, to con- 
stitute them probable truths, evidence in their favor which 
the understanding adjudges to be more weighty.] 

But again : there may be several distinct series or classes of 
facts, each of which apparently involves the proposed truth. 
In this case, the weight of the evidence is greatly aug- 
mented, the ratio of probability from the whole being 
equal to the multiplied ratios of each distinct series. In 
this way, this kind of evidence, though called " probable," 
to distinguish it from demonstrative evidence, may become 
so strong as to admit of no doubt in the mind. 

The two opposing probabilities, furthermore, may be of 
the same, or of different degrees. If of the same, the un- 
derstanding, looking at them both, will assent to neither 
conclusion ; but if of different degrees, the understanding 
will assent to the conclusion which has the greater weight 
of probability in its favor, and with a confidence propor- 
tioned to the disparity. 

[When, however, the understanding has so adjudged re- 
specting any proposed truth of a practical nature, it is still 
a distinct question whether the person to whom it is pro- 
posed will act upon it, or refuse to act. This he is to de- 
termine in view of the motives which prompt him. These 
motives may be derived from what will be the conse- 
quences of such action, if it shall turn out to be a real 
truth ; and they may also be derived, in part, from what 
will be the consequences of such action, even supposing it 
should not be real. 

Thus, a man may be moved to act upon the truthfulness 



DISCOURSES. 85 

of the teachings and claims of Christ, by the eternal re- 
ward and punishment which are to follow obedience and 
disobedience, if those teachings and claims are true ; and 
also by the perceived fact, that by so acting, whatever else 
may be true of those claims, he will be using the best 
means which the world affords, to make himself and other 
men better and happier for this life. 

He may be moved, on the other hand, to reject the claims 
of Christ, or to act on the supposition of their falsity, by 
all the inducements which the world can offer to his cov- 
etousness, or his ambition. And this he may do, likewise, 
even though his understanding adjudged the evidence to be 
in favor of those claims. 

But if he does otherwise, if he acts upon the truth of 
those claims, the more evidence he sees in their favor, the 
more will the eternal reward have to do with his decision ; 
and the less evidence he sees, the more will he be left to 
those motives which come from the righteousness of 
Christ's commands and the practical tendency of faith 
in Him. 

The evidence, therefore, in favor of a proposed truth, 
while it may influence, does not necessarily determine the 
action which the mind shall take upon it.] 

But, in order to elucidate our definition a second fact 
must now be noticed. As the mind is a susceptible agent, 
it must have, while in a sound condition, some degree of 
feeling, however slight, in view of every probable truth 
which demands its action. This feeling is a feeling of as- 
surance, called, when directed to pleasing truths, trust, or 
confidence. From the nature of the case, however, this 
feeling is not the same before and after the purpose of act- 
ing on the truth, since its object, by such a purpose, becomes 



86 DISCOURSES. 

changed. Before the purpose of acting, it is confidence 
that such and such a thing might be ; after the purpose, it 
is confidence that such a thing will be.* 

Concerning this feeling of assurance, trust or confidence, 
however, four things must be said. (1st.) It may be very- 
slight, owing to unfavorable habitudes of the mind, and to 
weakness of intellectual assent or seen probability. (2d.) 
Other thoughts, attended with much more powerful emo- 
tions, may so keep crowding into the mind that a man 
may not be reflectively conscious of having this feeling of 
confidence in any degree. (3d.) This feeling will increase 
by acting on the truth to which it is directed. It will in- 
crease for two reasons — first, because, by acting on the 
truth, the attention will be more forcibly and exclusively 
turned toward it ; and, second, because new evidence will 
be continually presenting itself to the mind, to confirm the 
probability of the truth. No man, at any time of his life, 
can say, concerning any important practical proposition or 
doctrine, that he has seen all the facts, and had all the 
thoughts, which it is possible to see and to have, that go to 
establish its truth. When, therefore, he has decided to act 
upon its truth, and does so act, his attention being turned 

* It is undoubtedly true that there is a certain feeling of confidence often pre- 
ceding the act of faith, and this feeling is often called faith. But this feeling is 
always distinguishable from the real feeling of faith ; for it is always a feeling 
of satisfaction in view of the proposition that such a thing would be; while the 
feeling of faith is a feeling of satisfaction in view of the proposition that such a 
thing will be. But a feeling may by many be thought to precede the act of faith, — 
which it does not; for the act of faith is not necessarily an outward act, but the 
purpose of the heart, made, perhaps, long anterior to the outward act, in which 
it is afterwards to he embodied. 

The habitual feeling of confidence which dwells in the mind of one of fervent 
faith, is not the primal source of those acts of faith which are exhibited, and 
which may seem to flow from it alone ; there is in the mind, at the same time, an 
habitual state of the will, a fixed and general choice, which enables themind to 
feel as it does, and from which the individual acts of faith proceed. 



DISCOURSES. 87 

to it, new thoughts will be continually arising in his mind, 
confirming its assent, and so deepening its feeling of confi- 
dence In its adopted way. (4th.) One thing more must be 
said concerning this feeling of confidence : it may vary 
very much at different times, owing to doubts arising from 
contemplated difficulties, or to different states of suscep- 
tibilities, and may, indeed, in some cases, never become a 
full and perfect confidence ; while at the same time, however, 
the heart may never swerve from it, never let go its hold of it, 
as a principle of action.* 

* In putting forth a definition of Scriptural or practical faith, it is not asserted 
or implied that the word is always used among men, or even in Scripture, in the 
broad and full sense which is here given to it. Like every other word express- 
ive of a mental act or state, its use may be more or less general or specific ; and 
when specific, it may drop some of those elements which are essential to it in 
other cases. Thus we sometimes apply the term to a certain act which we wit- 
ness, without any direct reference to any emotion as connected with it ; and at 
other times we speak of the mere feeling of confidence under the same appel- 
lation, without thinking at all of any act or purpose as occasioning or follow- 
ing it. 

So, very commonly among Christian writers or speakers, and sometimes in 
the New Testament, the term is used to denote the feeling of confidence in God. 
An expression of this is found in Matt. xvii. 20, where Christ replies to the dis- 
ciples, who had asked him why they could not cast out the dumb spirit, " be- 
cause of your unbelief," or want of faith. The act of faith the disciples had 
evidently performed, by trying to cast him out ; and this act was doubtless at- 
tended with some degree of conviction. But their preceding and habitual feeling 
of confidence in God was so feeble, that God saw fit to rebuke them for it, seeing 
that they ought to have gained a livelier confidence, by more constantly commu- 
ning with Him and making trial of His goodness. And this feebleness of hab- 
itual confidence, marking a poverty of spiritual attainment, Christ here terms 
unbelief. The same use of the word is quite common, also, among Christian 
writers and speakers of the present day, and will doubtless always be common. 

Again, however, we speak of faith very often with a principal reference to 
one of its elements, but really embracing them all. When we see a man en- 
counter a grievous and sore trial accompanied with strong temptation to swerve 
from the purpose of godliness, and find him holding fast his allegiance and man- 
ifesting a feeling of firm, and lively, and joyous confidence in God, we may 
speak with admiration of his faith; and, according lo our own circumstances, 
or the connection and bent of our thoughts, we shall do so with our attention 
principally directed to the feeling — or, on the other hand, to the purpose — which 



88 DISCOURSES. 

We are now prepared, I trust, to understand and to see 
the correctness of the definition of faith which has been 
given. 

When a proposition is presented to the mind of a man 
as a truth, and as one upon which he must act, either as 
being true or as being false ; and when his understanding 
assents to the proposition as a probable truth, or, looking 
at the evidence, assents to the evidence as probable ; and 
when, in view of the motives which he sees pointing to such 
a course, he determines to act upon that proposition as 
though it ivere true, — this assent of the understanding and 
this purpose of the heart, with that feeling which must neces- 
sarily follow such an assent and such a purpose, be it more 
or less — this assent, purpose and feeling, I say, are faith — 
practical faith. 

Before the mind forms this determination or purpose, 
the feeling of assurance or confidence may be so slight, in 
presence of other and more powerful feelings, as not to be 
known to exist ; but after the purpose is formed, it will in- 
crease; and the longer the mind continues to act upon its 
adopted truth, the deeper and stronger (other things being 
equal) will this feeling become. 

The feeling of confidence, therefore, is not directly to be 
sought for, or to be deemed a pre-requisite to faith. In 
this, as in all other cases, let the heart do right, and it will 
eventually feel right. 1 repeat then, practical faith is a 

we witness ; in either case, however, we shall not of necessity wholly exclude 
from our minds, in using this word, the other idea which is at the same time 
presented to us. We may think most of the happy confidence which he enjoys ; 
but we shall not wholly lose sight of his firm fidelity of will ;— or we may think, 
most of his unwavering obedience; but we shall not forget the deep and trust- 
ful peace of his heart. We shall mean by faith all that properly belongs to it, 
though one of its elements may be prominent in our view. 



DISCOURSES. 89 

complex act or state of mind, consisting of an intellectual 
assent to the probability of a proposed truth or of the evi- 
dence by which it is supported, with the determination to act 
upon it in view of the motives which prompt to such a 
course, and ivith that feeling of assurance, which, in greater 
or less degree, necessarily follows such assent and determi- 
nation ; or, to put the definition in a better shape for 
practical purposes, as putting the voluntary or practical 
element foremost- — 

Practical faith is acting upon a proposed truth in which the 
mind sees some probability, and of which it has therefore 
some feeling of assurance ; or, more simple still, and suffi- 
cient for common purposes — 

Faith in a truth, is acting upon it as true. 

Is there a child here, old enough to understand any de- 
finition whatever, who cannot understand this ? 

Let me present here an illustration of faith which is fre- 
quently employed, which will both illustrate this definition 
and show its correctness, though the latter I purpose to do 
more fully hereafter. A little girl was standing by the 
side of a trap door which opened through the floor of the 
room into the cellar. She looked down, but as the cellar 
was dark she could see nothing. Presently, however, she 
heard a voice speaking to her from out of that dark place, 
and knew it was the voice of her father. " My daughter/' 
said the voice, " I am here below you — jump down, and 
I will catch you in my arms." 

The little girl hesitated. She looked down again into 
the darkness, and could see nothing, and she feared to leap. 

"My daughter," said the voice again, " do you not be- 
lieve me ? Your father is here — jump down, and you will 

5* 



90 DISCOURSES. 

be safe in my arms." She looked again — she sprang— and 
was caught with delight to the bosom of her parent. 

Now this, we are told, is faith. She believed what her 
father told her. Unquestionably this is correct. This 
was certainly faith — but, it was acting upon what her father 
told her, and neither more nor less. 

She acted upon her father's words as true — and this was, 
believing her father's words. How surprising, that so 
many have used this or similar illustrations to show what 
faith is — illustrations which do show exactly what it is — and 
yet have not perceived it to be just that simple thing which 
they have shown it to be — acting on the truth. 

[We will now briefly consider those passages of Scrip- 
ture which bear upon our subject. 

Those texts should be first noticed which may seem to 
some to conflict with the views advanced. Such are the texts 
which may appear to teach that God is the Author or 
Giver of faith in the human heart ; and one especially 
which some understand to deny that it is the act of man 
himself. Says Paul to the Ephesians (ii. 8, 9): "By 
grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of your- 
selves ; it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any man 
should boast." 

But Paul is not speaking of faith, but of salvation, when 
he says " this is not of yourselves, but is the gift of God." 
This is evident from two facts : first, that the word ren- 
dered " that" in our common version, but which I have 
rendered " this," is of a different gender, in the original 
Greek, from the word " faith," and cannot therefore refer 
to it, unless a change of style be supposed, for which there 
is here no reason, and of which there is, I believe, in all 
the rest of Paul's writings, no example ; and, second, that 



DISCOURSES. 91 

to suppose it to mean faith, is to make the succeeding clause 
totally without meaning. What idea can be attached to the 
words, as used by Paul, that " faith is not of works, lest 
any man should boast ?" when every one knows that these 
are the two distinct grounds of justification which he every- 
where treats of as things confessedly opposite. But, when 
he has said, "this salvation is not of yourselves — it is the 
gift of God," that he should add, "it is of faith and not of 
works, lest any man should boast," is perfectly intelligible. 

Paul does not, therefore, in this passage, deny that faith 
is of ourselves. 

But even admitting that he does, however, and that 
other passages also teach that God is the author of faith in 
the human heart, still all this does not overthrow or attack 
the principles advanced. God is truly the author of Faith, 
even as He is the author of all virtue or goodness, by giving 
all those means and influences by which it is produced. 
And in this sense, man is not the author of his own faith. 
Yet is it truly, nevertheless, his own exercise ; the act of 
his own mind and heart. And the fact that the Scriptures 
require it of him, as the condition of salvation, implies this, 
and is proof that they do not intend to deny it. Before, 
however, leaving this point, it should be noted also, that in 
several instances of the use of the word " faith" in the New- 
Testament Epistles, it plainly signifies some miraculous gift, 
and not that moral exercise which is the subject of our 
discussion. 

With regard to the Apostle Paul's usage of the term 
" faith," I next remark, one fact needs to be particularly 
noticed whenever we inquire into his teachings on this sub- 
ject. While it is more frequently found in his writings 
than in any other part of the New Testament, it is seldom. 



92 DISCOURSES. 

and I believe never, found in them with the general mean- 
ing of religious faith, but generally or always as denoting 
faith in some specific truth. When speaking of faith as 
justifying the believer in Jesus, he means faith in the aton- 
ing blood of Christ. But Abraham's faith, to which he 
also refers, was faith in the truthfulness of God to fulfil 
His promises. The influence of this faith is parallel to the 
influence of the Christian's justifying faith, to which he 
compares it, only in the fact that being both religious faith 
they possess moral quality, and, according to their extent, 
secure the approbation of God. 

But now when Paul had taught that penitent sinners 
are justified, that is, forgiven, by faith in Christ's atoning 
blood, and when some in that age, overlooking the fact 
that Paul was speaking only of penitent sinners, began to 
exercise faith in the doctrine that they could -be saved by 
believing in Christ without repentance, or the forsaking of 
sin, the Apostle James steps forward and denies that faith 
alone, that is, such a faith as this, can save men ; and asserts 
that a religious faith which has not fruits of holiness or 
works of love, is a dead or spurious faith, without saving 
influence. While his language, therefore, appears to con- 
tradict the language of Paul, he is only denying that which 
Paul never meant to assert. The use which the Apostle 
John, also, makes of the term, is very different from that 
of Paul. It has, in his Epistle, its broadest religious sig- 
nificance, though often applied to Christ as comprehending 
in himself the whole sum of religious truth. " This is the 
victory," he says, " that overcometh the world ; even our 
faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that 
believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ?" 

With the notice of one more text of Scripture we will 



DISCOURSES. ' 93 

close our discussion. Says the writer to the Hebrews (xi. 1), 
according to our version, " Faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." If this trans- 
lation has any meaning at all, I have never been able to 
discover it. The Greek word vTtooraoLg- means, that which 
is laid down as a foundation ; or, next, the act of laying 
down (something) as a foundation ; i. e., taking something 
as a foundation, or resting upon it. The word translated 
" evidence," means rather " conviction." Rightly inter- 
preted, then, the verse would read thus : " faith is the re- 
lying upon things hoped for, the conviction of things not 
seen."* But the writer evidently means, relying in one's 

* " We must, with the best modern expositions, take vndaracng, not in 
the sense of substance, (which is generally assigned,) but of firm confidence; 
(as 2 Cor. ix. 4, xi. 17.) So the Pesch. Syriac well renders : ' Est autem fides 
persuasio de rebus illis quae sunt in spe, ac si jam essent actu. And so Tyndall : 
1 Faythe is a sure confydence,' &c, — ""EXeyxos. Firma persuasio. Kuinoel, 
So also Ohrysostom : nioTig eig ty]v avrrjv roig bpcopikvoig (pkpei n^ripotyopiav 
ra firj bpdofxeva. Thus faith is both a disposition and a principle." — Bp.Bloomfield. 

Augustine renders VTroaraatg by convictio. Tract. 79 in Joan, cited by 
Aquinas, Summa. ii. 2, q. 4, 1. ^Ynoaraoig and s^eyxog are synonymous 
in this passage, and signify firma persuasio. Knapp. Chr. Theol. § cxxii. 

" The moral, comprehensive, and universal indication of religious conscious- 
ness is faith. It is the unity of sensation and perception of susceptibility and 
spontaneity in matters of religion. It is through Christianity alone that the no- 
tion of faith has so pervaded science and general culture, as to be regarded as 
the fundamental character and essential function of religious life ; wherefore 
faith in its general or philosophical meaning can only be apprehended according 
to the analogy of its strictly Christian meaning. A trace of the correct gener- 
alization is to be found in Hebrews xi. 1. Yet not as though v-noaraaig and 
eXeyxog were merely the energies of reflection and intellectual syllogizing. 
The usual explanation, that faith consists in maintaining as true the super- 
sensual derived from subjective yet conclusive grounds, does not reach its es- 
sence. Thus we simply perceive that faith in .some way differs from opinion in- 
adequately grounded, and from knowledge ; but we do not perceive that it is an 
original, yet at the same time a free act of the subjective spirit; nor that it is 
a believing with the heart, napdia yap marevcTai, (Rom. x. 10); nor that 
v6r)oig 6ia nUrzoig or marti vouv, k.t. A. (Heb. xi. 3) , is the earlier and more 



94 DISCOURSES. 

actions on things hoped for. The verse there is exactly 
equivalent to the definition given, as applied to the objects 
of religious faith, that religious faith is acting on the reality 
of things hoped for and unseen, with a feeling of confidence 
in the same. It is religious faith in general, as exhibited 
in the godly man, the somewhat mature Christian, of which 
the writer is speaking. Abel, Enoch, and Noah, Abra- 
ham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, all acted upon the reality 
of those unseen things which God had declared to them ; 
all lived with a heart-full confidence therein. And such a 
life is the mark of a servant of God. Such is the aspect 
which his habitual conduct presents: "relying upon things 
hoped for ; calmly convinced of things not seen." To such 
a life also the Gospel conducts. To believe in Jesus is 
thus to live. And thus shall a man " work the works of 
God," by learning to " believe on Him whom He hath 
sent." 

"We see from the exhibition of the voluntary nature of 
faith which we have made, how it is that the duty of ex- 
ercising faith is consistent with the great principle running 
through all the pages of Holy Seriptures, which makes 
what a man does the ground of his acceptance with God, 
or, of his condemnation. " For we must all appear be- 
fore the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may re- 
ceive the things done in his body ;" and faith is no excep- 
tion. 

What a man does, is the activity of his faith ; and the 
God he believes in, is that God whom in his life he serves 

immediate fact -which precedes and lies at the foundation of dialectic and demon- 
stration ; and in this relation the nature of faith has been strikingly treated by 
Dr. David Schultz, in his ' Christian Doctrine of Faith .' " (A New Treatment of 
the question, What is Faith, and who are the Unbelievers 1) — [A work to which 
we have not access.— Ed.] Nitzsch, Chr. Doc. $ 9.— See also Appendix, Note D. 



DISCOURSES. 95 

There is faith in a" doctrine according to godliness," 
and " he that believeth shall be saved ;" and there is a faith 
in such as seem given over to " believe a lie, that they all 
might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleas- 
ure in unrighteousness." From such a faith, dear reader, 
may God turn off your heart, if it is yours ! 



DISCOURSE IV. 



Faith — Its Moral Quality. 
Galatians v. 6 : " Faith, which worlceth by love " 

We now propose to test that definition of faith which 
was given in the previous discourse upon this text, and to 
show how and when this principle has moral quality. 
This, it will be remembered, constitutes the fourth and fifth 
general divisions of the subject we are engaged upon, as 
announced in the opening discourse. Let us then, 

IV. Test the definition of faith now given. 

It is not proposed, under this head, to enter upon a gen- 
eral examination of the definition, with reference to its 
competency to solve all those questions which have been 
asked concerning faith, and to silence the sneers which have 
been flung out against it ; all these things will be attended 
to in their proper places, as we proceed ; and it is hoped 
that the view given will remove all difficulty from the sub- 
ject, in all its bearings. Still, however, the question may 
arise, Is it a true view ? and this question I would first at- 
tempt to answer. " Faith," I have said, " is the purpose of 
acting upon a proposed truth, in which the mind sees some 
probability, with more or less of the feeling of confidence in 
the same." Independently, then, of that evidence which 
the analysis carries with ifc, the truth of this definition 
may be ascertained by applying to it two questions or tests ; 
first, Is there any element in that state of mind answer- 



DISCOURSES. 97 

ing to this definition, which does not exist in faith ? and, 
second, Is there any element in faith which is not found 
here? 

First, then, is there any element in the state of mind 
answering to the definition, which does not belong to faith ? 

The chief of these elements is, the purpose cf acting 
upon the truth believed. But this is an acknowledged ele- 
ment of Scriptural faith. In all that is said of the latter, 
to distinguish it from historical or speculative faith, this, if 
not distinctly seen, is plainly implied. 

As has been already observed, there is no other possible 
ground of distinction between the two kinds of faith, but 
that the one has in it a voluntary element, and the other 
has not. And what else can that voluntary element con- 
sist in, than in the purpose of acting according to the truth 
believed? Nay, even if there were a thousand other pur- 
poses in a man's mind, respecting a proposed practical 
truth, and the purpose of acting according to it were not 
there, it is plain enough he would not be a practical be- 
liever in the truth. 

As to the other elements of our definition of faith, the 
assent of the understanding and the feeling of confidence, 
none will dispute that these are essential parts of a true 
and full faith. 

But secondly, what has faith in itself which is not found 
in the elements of this definition, or in the state of mind 
described by it ? Has faith an intelligent view of the truth 
proposed, and assent to it I So has this. Has faith a feel- 
ing of satisfaction in that 1 ruth, a sentiment of repose in ' 
it % So has this. And yet it is manifest that as in this 
state of mind, so in faith, that feeling of confidence may 
at times be feeble, and much disturbed by opposing emo 



98 DISCOURSES. 

tions, while all the time the heart never relaxes its purpose 
of action. 

And has Scriptural faith, also, a voluntary element"? 
Is it a practical faith ? a belief that produces correspond- 
ing results in action 1 So is this. And there is in faith 
no other assignable element, no other activity of the intel- 
lect, or heart, or will, but these which have been men- 
tioned. It follows, therefore, if these things are true, that 
the definition of faith which has been given, having no 
other element than such as are found in faith, and having, 
also, all the elements that belong to faith, is a true and com- 
plete definition. How satisfactory it may be, will be more 
distinctly seen hereafter, as has been intimated ; yet it 
must be evident at a glance, that it is sufficiently analytic 
to afford materials with which to build up a plain doctrine 
of faith, and to remove the difficulties, if such a thing 
be at all possible, with which the subject has been sur- 
rounded. 

To remove some of these difficulties is our next busi- 
ness ; or, in the order of our discussion — 

V. To show how and when faith has moral quality ; in the 
exhibition of which will also be seen its relation to reason, 
or the place which it occupies among the acts of the soul, 
considered as a rational power. 

The great facts or principles which lie at the basis of 
this discussion, are, briefly, these : that men are sometimes 
(at least) called to act upon proposed truths which are sup- 
ported only by probable evidence, and which may be op- 
posed in ]ike manner ; and that their action upon these 
truths is determined in view of motives lying on one side 
and on the other. It is plainly to be seen, that some of 



DISCOURSES. 99 

these motives may give to the action which is based upon 
them a moral quality. 

Now in such a case as this : it is evident, that, seeing on 
the whole a probability of the truth of the proposition 
that one's family are in danger, even though one may be 
unable to account for the contrary evidence, — he who re- 
fuses to exercise faith in the proposition, and remains where 
he is, acts morally wrong. He refuses to do the good 
which he sees would be done by his going, whether the 
proposition should prove true or false, viz. : the good to his 
neighbors ; and he is thus guilty of sin — not sin because 
he may not feel such and such a degree of confidence in 
the proposed truth, but sin because he will not act as if it 
were true, knowing, as he does, that he may accomplish a 
good purpose by so doing.* 

* In the following remarks the author assigns to repentance a similar relation 
to faith.— [Ed. 

" The great insisting on faith as the condition of pardon which is often heard, 
in the case of those who acknowledge the truth of the Gospel, is utterly out of 
place, and only makes difficulty and darkness. It is repentance which is wanted 
— faith already exists, except the element of it which is found in obedience, of 
which repentance is the first step. 

" The sinner who believes that God forgives for Christ's sake, who assents to 
this as a doctrine of the Scriptures, which he acknowledges to be the Word of 
God, only needs to repent, and to ask mercy for Christ's sake. He must be told 
that if he repents, and asks pardon in Christ's name, he is forgiven, and that 
there is a sense of pardon or forgiveness which he can have — and that he should 
not cease praying for pardon, imploring God to show him if he has not wholly 
repented, and lead him [to] repentance — till he feels that his sins are forgiven. 
He should not be striving after faith, but after repentance, and the assurance of 
forgiveness. 

"To strive for faith, is like a stubborn and hungry child, who has been told 
that he shall have bread for asking, but who is unwilling to ask, crying and be- 
seeching his father to give him a voice, so that he can ask. The voice he ha 
already got ; what he wants is to use it to ask bread — a submissive heart, to be 
willing to ask. So what such a sinner wants is not faith, but a penitent heart to 
use his faith, and make it avail for him." 

See, also, the Note appended to Discourse X. 



100 DISCOURSES. 

But suppose, on the other hand, that he exercises faith 
in the proposition— that he goes to the relief of his family. 
Now, so far as he is influenced to this act, by the consider- 
ation that he can, at all events, do good to his neighbors, 
so far, at least, it has a virtuous moral quality. 

When the proposed truth before the mind is of a practi- 
cal nature, L e., when it is one which requires that the 
mind should act upon it as true, or act upon the denial of 
it, — the motives which range themselves upon the opposing 
sides, are a distinct thing from the two opposing arrays of evi- 
dence. So true is this, that it may easily be shown that 
they are by no means always proportioned, even in import- 
ance or rank, to the weight of the evidence, nor always 
wholly dependent on it. 

This will, perhaps, be best seen by an illustration. You 
are living, we will suppose, in a populous town or city. 
While at your place of business, which is at some distance 
from your residence, a fire breaks out in the town, of which 
you have ample evidence in the smoke which rolls up in 
the distance, and the darting flames, and the confused cries 
that reach you from the spot. Soon you perceive that the 
flames are making great havoc, and producing a scene of 
great distress where your help is much needed, in behalf of 
those who are brought to the brink of ruin. Being told, 
however, by messengers whom you have sent, that the fire 
is at some distance from your own house, and moving in 
the contrary direction, and having some business on your 
own hands, you conclude, not without some struggles of 
conscience, to remain where you are. But here comes one 
of your own neighbors, almost breathless with haste, and 
tells you that your house is surrounded by the flames, and 
your family in imminent danger. Now what will you do ? 



DISCOURSES. 101 

Will you sit at your desk, gravely weighing the evidence 
as to the fact of the danger of your family, counting up 
the figures on both sides till you have ascertained the pre- 
ponderance of probability, and then proceeding accord- 
ingly 1 No ! You will not hesitate a moment, if you are 
a man. You will run ! And why ? Because the magni- 
tude of the interests involved outweighs all considerations 
of the possibility of error, and electrifies you with its im- 
pulse to action. 

Now let us look at this case a moment, and see how the 
facts stated a few moments ago are involved in it. Here 
is a proposed truth before your mind, viz. : the danger of 
your family ; and it is a proposition upon which you must 
act, either as being true or false. There is on each side a 
certain amount of evidence ; we will not now care to say 
how much, or which preponderates. There are, also, mo- 
tives on both sides : on the one side, the love of your fam- 
ily, and the possibility, even if you should find them safe, 
of helping other distressed families, by going ; on the other 
side, there is the desire of attending to your business, 
which you can do by staying where you are. 

Now it is manifest, (1st) that the motives for acting as 
if the proposition were true, and the motives for acting as 
if it were false, are distinct matters from the evidence on the 
two opposing sides ; (2d) that these motives are, by no 
means, necessarily proportioned, in importance or rank, to 
the weight of that evidence ; and (3d) that they are not all 
dependent, in any wise, on that evidence ; for whether the 
proposition be true or false, you know you can do good 
by going, and this alone should be motive enough for your 
acting on it as if it were true. In addition to these prin- 
ciples, also, another (in the 4th place) is manifest, viz. : 



102 DISCOURSES. 

that it is plainly possible to act on that side of the ques- 
tion as being true which has the less weight of evidence in 
its favor. 

And I will here so far make an application of these 
principles, though it be anticipatory, as to add, — that if it 
be an evident truth that the religion of Jesus Christ, when 
truly obeyed, is a blessing to mankind, then the act of obe- 
dience or disobedience — -in other words, the act of faith or 
unbelief in the religion — possesses a moral quality alto- 
gether aside from the question of its truth or falsehood ;* 
and there is an obligation to believe, which cannot be set 
aside by doubts and sneers that may be thrown upon it by 
selfish men. 

Here, then, we see how and when the act of faith has 
moral quality. That quality arises from the motives which 
prompt to the act. And whenever those motives are the 
dictate of righteousness on the one hand, or selfishness on 
the other, then the act of faith, according as it obeys or 
disobeys, is right or wrong. 

We see also the relation of faith to reason. Faith is not 
something severed from reason, but is based upon it. It 
is an act of the will, founded upon evidence and motive, 

*We should say, rather, during the pendency of this question. If Chris- 
tianity shall be proven false, it will then be our duty to reject it, notwithstand- 
ing whatever wishes that it were true. We understand the argument of the 
writer to be simply this — that there should be a prejudice in favor of what is 
good, and that the religion of Christ is perhaps true, because it ought to be true. 
That he does not here condescend to the pitiable safe-side argument which is too 
often advanced, is clear from the following remark in his closing discourse : — 
" But it must be admitted, however, and urged, that as reason is the light of the 
soul, by which man must direct his steps or walk in darkness, he is solemnly 
bound, by the very constitution of his nature, to follow in his action the laws of 
evidence, unless the higher law of moral rectitude shall, if such a thing be pos- 
sible, oppose." — [Ed. 



DISCOURSES. 103 

which it is the province of reason to scan — a purpose of the 
heart based on truth, which reason must reveal. 

Whether, also, a man act on the one side or the other 
of a proposed truth, it being supported by probable evidence 
and opposed only by the same, his act is equally, in either 
case, an act of faith : so that there may be a wicked and a 
selfish faith as well as a holy and a righteous one. 

It was observed in the preceding discourse, that the act 
of faith, whether accepting or rejecting a proposed truth, 
is not always put forth in accordance with the just proba- 
bility in the case ; or in other words, not always in accord- 
ance with the greater probability of evidence. The indi- 
vidual may not always pause to weigh accurately the whole 
evidence on either side before deciding ; and there are cases 
where virtue does not require it. If a proposition is seen, 
by being received as truth, evidently to tend to the good 
of mankind, and if it is supported by evidence sufficient in 
itself to give a good degree of probability in its favor, vir- 
tue requires that a man scan not too particularly whatever 
opposing evidence there may be, but proceed to act upon 
it. For, the fact that it does so tend to the good of man- 
kind, is proof, either that it is true, or, that a lie is better 
than the truth ; in either of which cases (if indeed the lat- 
ter is possible) he ought to go forward and act upon it. 

This is the great reason why the believer in Christ feels 
that he needs not to scan particularly, or inquire minutely, 
concerning what objections may be brought up against the 
truth of the Gospel history. He is conscious that his faith 
in Christ is elevating and purifying his own character, and 
making him a better man to his neighbor ; and seeing at 
least sufficient evidence to give, in itself considered, a strong 
probability of the correctness of his faith, he is resolved to 



104 DISCOURSES, 

go forward, feeling that virtue leadeth him by the hand, 
and having in his soul a peaceful assurance that " in the 
way of righteousness is life." 

But again, there may be, as indeed there are, cases where 
men act both against the greater probability and the mo- 
tives of goodness, either without weighing the evidence with 
proper care, or, even seeing it to be against their chosen 
way. Such, if we mistake not, is the case with the rejec- 
ters of Christianity. 

Those who reject the claims of Jesus Christ to be 
their Lord, their Teacher, and their Saviour, do so, not for 
want of evidence, but, because they refuse to examine that 
evidence, or, plainly seeing it to be against them, they are 
not willing to adopt those holy and benevolent principles 
which He enjoins. In the latter case, they live " with a lie 
in their right hand," knowing it to be such and know- 
ing it to be evil, yet unwilling to give it up and to love 
righteousness.* 

* When, furthermore, a man has begun to act in one way or the other with 
regard to a proposed truth, his view of the evidence will seldom continue the 
same as it first was. 

A man's attainments in knowledge are always very slight compared with what 
may be known ; and most knowable things affect more or less the probability of 
most others. The longer, therefore, a person acts upon the truth or falsity of a 
proposition, looking, as he will look, after all things that will encourage him in 
it, the more will he find of probable evidence to support him. 

Again, true faith, as has been defined, always includes the intellectual assent. 
A man may, indeed, act from various motives, on propositions to which his un- 
derstanding does not assent ; but he has not then faith. After acting on such a 
proposition for some time, his understanding may come to assent to it in the 
manner just indicated, and thus his activity may become faith. So sometimes 
the infidel, who at first does violence to his own understanding in asserting that 
the G-ospel is a fable and that there is no hereafter, and who does not believe 
this doctrine which he professes and acts upon, may come at last to exercise a 
real faith in his delusion. 

And so, very frequently, evil-minded men will take up a reproach against an- 
other, and though it has no suitable evidence to substantiate it, but merely be- 



DISCOURSES. 105 

The principles of this discussion enable us to see, further, 
how there may be different degrees of virtue in different 
men in the same act of faith. When a proposed truth is 
before the mind, there may be various motives for acting 
on it : — motives of reward, which depend wholly on its being 
true, and motives of piety or virtue, which exist aside from the 
direct evidence in its favor. If the evidence is very strong, 
the motives of reward may occupy a large place in the 
mind, in its resolving to obey : but if the evidence is feeble, 
the motives of piety or virtue must be the chief reasons 
upon which the mind proceeds. In the latter case, then, 
there is more moral excellence in obedience than in the 
former. This explains the language of our Lord to doubt- 
ing Thomas. If the heart of Thomas had loved tha moral 
elevation of the character of Christ as it ought, and been 
as determined to a life of obedience to His teachings as it 
should have been, he would not have been so hard to con- 
vince that Christ had set the seal of the divinity of His 

cause it chimes in with their own passions or prejudices, they will act upon it, 
and soon come to regard it with no more doubt than the shining of the sun. 
Who has not heard of people telling lies till they believed themselves ? Thus 
it was that the Pharisees ascribed the miracles of Christ to the agency of devils. 
They regard him with so much hate and prejudice that they see in his wonder- 
ful works of love only the evidence of his alliance with hell. 

Because intellectual belief is directly involuntary, or cannot be bent to this 
Side or that by simple choice, many have inferred that the belief with which a 
man lives is involuntary — that he may practically believe one proposition or an- 
other without moral quality. But the principles just elucidated show how er- 
roneous is such an idea. Men may act against the real decisions of reason ; and 
they may also, by so doing, in process of time, forgetting the probabilities on the 
one side, aud accumulating those on the other, assent to what they once knew 
to be a falsehood. It is not always, however, that the guilty errorist does such 
violence to his understanding. The judgment may often be at a loss to decide 
between conflicting evidence, till the moral choice steps in to influence the 
investigation. When evidence is seen decidedly to preponderate, of course 
belief must follow; but in many great questions it is not so seen at first, and the 
will has opportunity, by deciding on which side to act, to lead the mind on to a 
corresponding judgment. 

6 



106 DISCOURSES 

doctrines, by rising from the dead. He would have re- 
ceived at once with joy the happy intelligence, and been 
ready without hesitation to set before him in his path of 
obedience the glad hopes which such an event was calcu- 
lated to give. But no ; he must have the strongest evidence 
before he would obey. Therefore, said Jesus unto him : 
" Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : 
blessed are they that have not seen* and yet have believed." 

I conclude this discussion with one inference from what 
has been said. 

The faith or faiths with which a man lives in this world, 
depend, other things being equal, on the state of his heart. 

The opinions which men act upon in life depend very 
much upon their social and moral preferences. Many, if 
not most, important questions upon which men are called 
to act, so far admit of two sides that they may take either 
by an act of choice, deciding by the motives of virtue or 
indulgence, benevolence or selfishness. 

Thus, one man, traveling with his team on a long jour- 
ney, will rest on the Sabbath, acting on the doctrine (of 
the truth of which he has seen some evidence) that he will 
gain in the end by so doing ; being persuaded so to act, in 
part by his regard to what he considers religious duty ; and 
gaining confidence, by so acting, in the truth of his doc 
trine ; while another man, having precisely the same evi- 
dence of the truth of that doctrine, will not believe it, will 
not act upon it, because he has not the same regard for 
God and righteousness. Here is a difference of faith, 
springing not from difference of intellectual views, but from 
a difference of the heart. And when I look abroad upon 
the world and see the different moral creeds (I say not 
altogether intellectual creeds) upon which men act, I see in 



DISCOURSES. 107 

them the index, nor merely of their enlightenment, but of 
their moral position. It is not the creed that forms the heart, 
— at least originally — but the heart that forms the creed. 
When, therefore, a Hume, or any of his class, shall sneer 
at the believer in Jesus, I will say to him : If the evidence 
for his faith be so feeble as you assert, then the nobler and 
the purer is the heart that adopts its self-denying pre- 
cepts ; but what does your faith show your heart to be ? 
no Christ ! no soul ! no holiness ! no Heaven ! nothing but 
earth, sense, self, — the life and the death of a beast ! 

Dear reader, what creed will you adopt, for your life ? 
Will you be a follower of a Hume and a Voltaire % or will 
you be a believer, a follower of Christ % 



DISCOURSE V. 



Faith — Its General Application. 

John hi. 12 : " If I have told you earthly things, and ye be 
lieve not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly 
things ?"* 

Having noticed that the kind of Faith of which the 
Sacred Scriptures speak is. generically, a practical, in dis- 
tinction from a theoretical, faith, we have now seen, in an 
abstract form, what this practical faith is, and how it may 
possess a moral quality. We have, for our future task 
upon this subject, to make an application of the principles 
elicited in the preceding discussion ; or, according to the 
general divisions first announced, 

VI. To show the various applications, or the various kinds, of 
this Faith. 

Under this head I would more distinctly announce five 
divisions : 

1st. Its general application to human actions, both 
worldly and religious. 

2d. Its more specific applications to worldly matters, and 
their influence on the character. 

3d. Its application to religious objects ; or, Religious 
Faith. 

* The strict sense of this texu is given by the author, in the Tenth Discourse, 
where comp. Bp. Blomfield's note. We have prefixed it to this Discourse as 
implying the doctrine contained in it. 



DISCOURSES. 109 

4th. Faith in God, His truth, Providence ; and 

5th. Faith in Christ, regenerating, justifying and sanc- 
tifying. 

Our subject, in this discourse, will be the first of these 
divisions ; or, 

1st. The general application of Faith as a characteristic to 
human actions. 

And here the proposition may be laid down, that Faith 
is applicable as a characteristic to all things that all men 
do, both as citizens of the world and subjects of the Divine 
Government; or, in other words, all human actions, both 
v:orldly and religious, are acts of Faith. 

We will consider this proposition in its two divisions : — 
in reference to man's worldly actions, (by which I mean 
here, all his actions which have reference merely to this 
world), and to his religious actions (or those done in ref- 
erence to the will of God). 

First, All human actions done in reference to this world are acts 
of Faith* 

The truth of this proposition may be made manifest by 

* At this point the objection is most likely to be urged, that faith is a holy 
exercise, and is peculiar to regenerate persons. But the reader will recollect that 
in this discussion the term M faith " is used in its generic sense, and "with reference 
to the various powers of the' soul which it involves. The words of Paul, u What- 
soever is not of faith is sin," are not inconsistent with this view; for in the con- 
text (Rom. xiv. 22—23.) the term "faith" is manifestly applied to one's opinion 
of an act in itself indifferent. In the expression, " Hast thou faith? have it to 
thyself before God " — it cannot denote an exercise intrinsically holy, but simply 
in accordance with the laws of our being. 

That "faith in God" is the noblest sort of faith, and that he who has it is 
most worthy of the name "believer," — is maintained by our author, as it ac- 
cords with the whole tenor of Scripture. But it is no small advantage to be able 
to say to the sceptic, that he has some sort of faith in spite of himself; and that 
in discarding the "faith" of the Scriptures, he restricts himself to dull and 
earthly prose, and scorns a sublime and heavenly poetry, and narrows down his 
being to acts of insignificance, while he might sanctify his wasting powers, and 
" work the work of God." — [Ed. 



110 DISCOURSES. 

a single remark : all a man's actions done in reference 
merely to this world, are done in order to procure for him- 
self some happiness, which it is always possible, however, 
they will not procure. If it is in the nature of things pos- 
sible that a certain act will not procure that happiness 
which is its aim, then the proposition that it will procure 
it, is only a " probable truth," whatever may be the force 
of that probability ; and to act upon it as true, is, there- 
fore, an act of faith, And who shall say of any earthly 
action, that there is no possibility in the nature of things 
of its failing to bring happiness ? Who shall say, when 
the cup of pleasure is pressed to the very lip, that it can- 
not be dashed down ere it is tasted, or its taste prove poi- 
son when it is quaffed ? 

But let us be more specific. All earthly acts may be 
divided into two sorts : those which have reference to fu- 
ture results, and those which have reference to what may 
be called present results. In actions of the first class, it is 
very readily seen how it is possible that the result should 
not be attained. When the farmer goes out into the field 
to plough, and to plant his seed, does he imagine that it is 
impossible the harvest should fail ? Is it any other than a 
probable truth, that by care and industry he may secure his 
crop ? When he acts, therefore, upon this probable truth, 
it is an act of faith : not religious faith, but faith in the 
truth. When the blacksmith forges a plough, or the car 
penter builds a house ; when the cabinet-maker makes a 
bureau, or the shoe-maker a pair of shoes, or the tailor a 
coat, or the tinner a tea-kettle, he does it in view of the 
supposed truth that he will obtain a recompense. But, 
however strong the probability may be that he will, still 
this is only a probable truth — the contrary is clearly possi- 



DISCOURSES. HI 

ble ; his act, therefore, is an act of faith — it is acting upon 
a proposed truth in which the mind sees some probability. 

Again, when the capitalist invests his money in any spe- 
cies of property, or the trader purchases to sell again, he 
does it with the expectation of a gain which is by no means 
inevitable. What though he is insured — his insurance 
companies can fail, and he with them. He is acting upon 
probable truth — he is exercising faith. 

And when the lawyer makes his plea, he does it in 
faith that he may gain the cause for his client , or, at least, 
gain his client's money for himself — a thing not altogether 
certain, for his client may have no money to be gained. 

When a man steps on board a steamboat, to go a jour- 
ney, he performs an act of faith — faith that the mighty 
force of steam which is pent up in its iron heart, and which 
would work such swift destruction if suffered to break 
loose, is under the hand of one able to control and skillful 
to direct it. And so when he lies down at night to sleep 
quietly in his berth, he puts faith in the man that stands 
above at the wheel — faith that through the long hours of 
darkness he will stand there alone, able and willing to guide 
the boat along the tortuous channel safely and steadily to- 
ward its port. 

And so the sea-captain, when he steps on board his ship 
and gives the word of command, and the broad sheet is 
flung out to the wind, and the helm is braced a-port, per- 
forms an act of faith. The proposition that by care and 
skill he may be able to conduct his vessel safely to her dis- 
tant haven, is only a probable truth. The contrary is pos- 
sible. He is not mightier than He who " holdeth the 
winds in the hollow of His nst, ,? neither can he resist His 



112 DISCOURSES. 

will. Yet the supposition that he can go safely he sees to 
be probable, and he puts faith in it and sets forth.* 

And so the physician, when he stands over one who is 
prostrate with disease and seemingly drawing nigh to 
death, knows very well that it is possible the potion he is 
administering will not cure. But he sees evidence, also, 
that it may, — probable evidence of some degree that it 
will ; and however feeble his confidence may be, his giving 
it, is an act of faith in the supposition that it will. 

So also the preacher, when he prepares a sermon, does 
it on the supposition that he will be able to stand up at the 
appointed time and preach, and that there will be men 
there to hear him — both of which are truths by no means 
inevitable. His doing so, then, is an act of faith in those 
truths. 

And there is still another truth in which all these per- 
sons spoken of put faith in all these actions, and in which 
all persons put faith in every thing they do which respects 
the future ; and that is, that there will be to them a future, 
or to others for whom they labor. Why do you build a 
house, and make provision against to-morrow ? Is it be- 
cause it is impossible but that there should be a to-morrow 

* "• Et quoniam ridere nostram fidera consuestis, atque ipsam credulitatem 
facetiis jocularibus lancinare, dicite, o festivi, et meraco sapientia tincti et sa- 
turi potu, estne operis in Tita negotiosum aliquod atque actuosum genus, quod 
non fide praeeunte suscipiant, sumant, atque aggrediantur actores? Peregrina- 
mini, nayigatis : non domum vos credentes peractis negotiationibus remeaturos ? 
Terrain ferro scinditis, atque oppletis seminum varietate : non credentes frugem 
percepturos esse vicibus temporariis ? Conjugalia copulatis consortia : non futura 
esse credentes casta, et officiosi foederis in maritos ? Liberorum suscipitis prolem : 
non incolumen credentes fore, et per gradus aetatis venturain senectutis ad 
metas? iEgritudines corporum medicorum committitis manibus: non credentes 
morbos posse mitigata asperitate leniri? Bella cum hostibus geritis: non victo- 
riam vos credentes praeliorum successionibus relaturos ? Veneramini deos, et 
colitis : non credentes illos esse, et propitias aures vestris supplicationibus accom- 
modare?" — Arnobius, Adv. Gentes. ii. 8. 



DISCOURSES. 1]3 

to you ? or because it is probable you will see it ? Cer- 
tainly, you act upon a probability, knowing that it is wisest 
for you to do so : and in so doing, you exercise faith — you 
act as if it ivere true that you will see to-morrow. 

And so in everything which you do which has reference 
to an hour beyond the present, you are acting on the prob- 
able supposition that you are coming to that hour ; and 
in this respect, if in no other, every such act is an act of 
faith. 

But again, all those acts of men which have reference 
to the present, or to immediate results, are in some re- 
spect acts of faith. 

Look at that noble bark in a storm ; now rocking in the 
troughs of the sea, and now rising upon its mountain 
swells, and shaking the spray from her spattered crest like 
a thing of life. See that gallant tar, as hand over hand he 
ascends amid the tracery of her ropes and spars, to do 
some daring deed for her safety. Now the rocking mast 
has swung him far out over the boiling billows, into which 
his dangling feet are almost dipped, and there is nothing 
to save him from that watery burial but the slender rope 
to which his hands are clinging. How does he know, as 
he hangs in that fearful position, waiting for a favorable 
moment to perform his task — how does he know that that 
rope to which he clings will not break its fastenings, or be 
snapt in sunder ? Is such a thing impossible ? Is it any- 
thing but a probable truth that it will continue to support 
him ? And shall he, then, let go? No ; he will hold on, 
and with no landsman's grasp. He puts faith in the rope 
— and with that grasp of faith he is saved. 

Go down with me, now, into the cabin of that ship. 
See there the man upon whose skill she depends for her 

6* 



114 DISCOURSES. 

safe conduct over the pathless waters and amid the unseen 
dangers. He is bending over a table that is fastened to the 
floor. What is that which is spread out upon it ? It is a 
chart, pointing out the hidden rocks and all the dangers of 
the way. Does he know that it is correct in every partic- 
ular " l . Is the contrary impossible ? No ; but he has good 
reason to regard it as correct, and he acts accordingly — he 
puts faith in his chart. And so in those numerical tables by 
which he calculates the position and course of his vessel, 
containing thousands of figures, traverse tables, logarithms, 
sines, co- sines, tangents and secants ; it is probable every 
one of those figures are correct, but the contrary is possi- 
ble ; and if there is one of them wrong, that one wrong 
number may be the means of dashing him and his vessel 
upon inevitable destruction. Yet he uses his tables confi- 
dently ; he acts as if they were true — it is an act of faith. 

And the same principle prevails in every department and 
in every act of life. When the mechanic lifts his hammer 
to drive a nail, it is possible that the nail will break and 
the blow be useless ; but he smites it in faith— faith that it 
will endure the blow and sink into the wood. And when 
the seamstress is plying the polished needle, she knows at 
every stitch that it may snap in her fingers, or the tenuous 
thread may break, and the stitch be useless — but it is prob- 
able they will not ; and she acts upon it — and every stitch 
is an act of faith. 

And when you ate your breakfast this morning, you did 
it in faith — faith that that which you lifted to your mouth 
was food, wholesome food, and not some deceptive prepa- 
ration or poisonous article. And you cannot go to your 
dinner without faith — faith that you have a dinner to go 
to. Nay, you cannot rise from the seat on which you are 



DISCOURSES. 115 

sitting without faith. How do you know that that curious 
chain of nerves and muscles which is wont to communi- 
cate the impulse from your brain and move your limbs, is 
now in periect order and ready to transmit the mandates 
of your will"? The contrary is possible. Some unseen 
power may have severed the chain, or palsied the delicate 
nerve, while you have been sitting there unconscious. Such 
things have happened. However probable it may be, it is 
still only a probable, and not a necessary or inevitable 
truth, that the nerve and muscle wili obey your will. If 
your will, therefore, shall still act as if it were true, and 
put forth the volition, it wilLbe an act of faith. You can- 
not rise up from your seat without faith.* 

Enough has now been said to show that all human ac- 
tions, relating to this world, depend, in some respect, upon 
faith for their exercise ; and now I observe : 

Secondly, Much more are all human actions, of a religious 
character, acts of faith. This will easily appear, independ- 
ently of what has now been said. The actions of men are 
religious only so far as they are done in reference to un- 
seen, unworldly things, or, more particularly, the will 
of God. It is alone their being done in reference to things 
unseen, or the Divine will, which constitutes actions re- 
ligious. But to act with such a reference is to act on the 

* It has been affirmed, in the progress of this discussion, that all the acts of 
men are, in some respects, acts of faith. And they unquestionably are so. To 
act on a proposition which one does not intellectually believe, is not, indeed, to 
exercise faith in the proposition ; but there must be some other, at the same 
time, which is believed and acted on, so that there is still faith. But if a man 
act on a proposition to which his understanding does not assent, as he may do, 
whether for some other rea on, or with the idea that he will try it, either to 
show its falsity or as a possible resource, such a case may be an exception to 
some of the language of the discussion, which I have not therein taken pains to 
guard against but it is still no exception to the principles advanced. 



116 DISCOURSES. 

supposition that there is a God who has a will — a truth 
which, though no sane man, except he is utterly perverse 
and depraved, will deny it, is yet supported only by that 
kind of evidence which is called probable. The proposi- 
tion that there is a God, belongs to the same class of truths 
with the proposition that there was such a man as George 
Washington, or, that there is such a place as London, or, 
that the sun will rise to-morrow, viz. : probable truths. 
The contrary of these propositions is admitted by the hu- 
man mind to be in itself possible, though no man doubts 
their truth. Just so the proposition that there is a God 
cannot, in reality, be doubted by an enlightened and can- 
did mind ; yet its opposite is to human understanding pos- 
sible, and it is, therefore, a "probable truth." But, as 
every religious act is such only as it is based upon it as 
true, it follows that every religious act is an act of faith. 

For example : Christian repentance is an act of faith, 
since it is exercised upon the supposition that there is a God, 
who has been offended, but who is ready to forgive ; all of 
which are probablo truths, though they are no less certain 
than the probable truth that George Washington was first 
President of the United States. 

So prayer, and every act of obedience to God, is an act 
of faith ; proceeding on the supposition that there is a God. 
So all the Christian Graces, as they are termed, are exer- 
cises of faith — love to God, gratitude to God, submission to 
God, humility and meekness before God — all proceeding 
on the supposition that there is a God, a truth which is an 
object of faith and not of intuition.* 

* Some truths which call for faith are not such as call for any external or visi- 
ble act, but only some silent exercise of will, which may control the feel- 
ings of the heart. "When a man who has been accustomed to exercise faith in 
th« doctrine of God's gracious providence over His children, is placed in a situa- 



DISCOURSES. 117 

" Take almost any Christian grace," says one who has 
written extensively upon faith, " such as the spirit of sub 
mission, of gratitude, or of prayer, and it will be found that 
they sustain intimate relations with other states of the mind, 
particularly with faith; and that in reality they cannot 
posssibly exist without faith." 

No, surely ! how can a man pray to God without be- 
lieving that there is a God ! And yet this writer did not 
perceive that prayer is an act of faith. His idea is true, 
tLough the form of it is unphilosophical. A further dis- 
cussion of the nature and character of religious faith is de- 
manded, but must for the present be deferred. 

From what has now been said, how r ever, may be seen 
the truth of the proposition stated in the commencement 
of our present discussion, that all human actions, both 
Worldly and religious , are acts of faith. By this it is not as- 
serted that faith is the only characteristic of human actions, 
but simply that it is a universal characteristic of them. 
They may all have many other qualities, but this one 
quality they always have. In other respects they may be 
of various characters and descriptions ; but m this one re- 
spect, that they are all based in part, immediately or re- 



tion of imminent danger or sore trial, he may on the one hand listen to the sug- 
gestions of fear or despondency, and throw his soul into violent commotion and 
distress, or he may on the other hand, by a strong exercise of will, turn off his 
thoughts from the perils and vexations which surround him, and fix his attention 
firmly on the great truth which is so consoling to the heart, with the fixed re- 
solve that he will hear only its comforting dictates, and rejoice in the hope 
which it gives. 

Thus may he control his feelings, and while he looks with open eye at the 
perils and calamities at which other hearts are quaking around him, he may be 
calm. And this internal exercise of mind, by which its agitation is controlled, 
and a feeling of calm confidence is produced in an overruling and directing pow- 
er of goodness, possesses all the attributes of faith, as truly as any external action. 



118 DISCOURSES. 

motel j, upon some probable truth, and not wholly, at least, 
upon necessary truth, they are all acts of faith. 

From the subject of the present discussion I have two 
inferences. 

First. There is nothing unreasonable in the fact that the Bi- 
ble demands of men faith. In doing so it does no more than 
the world demands continually of those who seek its pleas- 
ures — no more than every hour's necessities demand of 
every man from the beginning to the end of life. If it is 
true that the Christian is called to " walk by faith and not 
by sight," it is also true that every man walks every step 
of his earthly way by faith, though it may be a faith far 
inferior in its objects, its character, and its influence. And 
a Hume, who sneered at the belief in Jesus for his faith, 
was himself as much a believer as the Christian, though in 
a different creed — and he lived all his life by faith, in every 
act of it, from the beginning to the end, as much as the 
Christian — only his was faith in different things ; and 
whether was nobler, his faith or the Christian's, we may by- 
and-by see. And it is so with all unbelievers, or infidels, 
as they are called — if they refuse to believe in "things 
heavenly and Divine," they do yet believe, though it be 
in things " earthly, sensual, devilish" — nay, they must be- 
lieve — they must live all their lives by faith, of some sort 
or other. The fact then, that the Bible demands faith, is 
no objection against it. And if it can be shown, as it cer- 
tainly can, that the faith which it demands is a pure and 
lof ,y one, then is the mouth of the unbeliever shut up, and 
his sneer is turned with redoubled force against himself. 

Secondly. We see that much of the language of Chris- 
tian writers about faith is without sense or propriety. 
Much is said, in laudatory terms, about faith in the ab- 



DISCOURSES. 119 

stract, as though it were in itself a peculiar and rare prin- 
ciple, and worthy of the highest commendation. Not see- 
ing that it is a principle of universal prevalence, and that 
its excellence must be measured by its objects, many have 
spoken of the principle itself as one of a mysterious and 
superior merit. But all talk about the excellence of faith 
is folly, unless you define, or unless it be understood what 
the truth is, which it is so excellent to believe, or act 
upon. 

The Scriptures, indeed, say much about the excellence of 
faith, without always expressly defining it ; but from the 
very nature of their subject it is understood to be religious 
faith of which they are speaking — faith in Jesus Christ, or 
in those realities of the unseen world which He has reveal- 
ed. And all who speak in praise of faith should be care- 
ful to define what kind of faith they mean, unless their 
subject or circumstances define it sufficiently ; or at least, 
they should not speak as though faith in itself, or faith of 
every kind, were a thing so holy and exalted. The view 
taken in this decision will not be found indeed to detract 
from the excellence of religious faith, but the contrary, as 
we may see hereafter. It shows, however, the true ground 
of the excellence — that it consists not in the principle itself, 
but in its object — not in its being faith, but in its being 
faith in " things heavenly and Divine." It takes away all 
reproach against a man for believing, and shows us that 
what he believes is the test by which to judge him. It shows 
us that while "devils" may " believe" and be devils still, it 
is he that believeth in Jesus that " worketh the works of 
God." And it tells you, reader, not to exult because you 
have faith, but to inquire, what is your faith ? 



DISCOURSE VI 



Faith — In the Affairs of this World. 

Hebrews xi. 32 — 34 : " And what shall I more say 9 for the 
time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and 
of Samson, and of Jephthae, of David also, and Samuel, 
and of the Prophets ; who through faith subdued king- 
doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped 
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, 
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the 
aliens" 

In discussing the subject of faith, we have seen that it 
is the heart's purpose of acting upon a proposed truth in 
which the mind sees some probability, and of which, there- 
fore, it feels some assurance. We have seen, also, that it 
is a characteristic of all human actions, both worldly and 
religious ; in other words, that all the actions of all 
men are, in some respects, acts of faith, since they are all 
based, directly or remotely, upon some probable truth. It 
remains to discuss more particularly these exhibitions of 
faith, separating them into their different classes, and point- 
ing out severally their peculiar character and influence 
upon the soul. We now propose to consider, under the 
sixth general division of our subject, 

2d. The application of faith by mankind to the things of this 
world, as to its influence on the human character and condition. 

The various objects which the world presents to human 



DISCOURSES. 121 

faith, may be divided into two kinds : those which are 
proper objects for its exercise, and those which, all things 
considered, are not proper. 

First. The application of faith to proper worldly objects. 

x\nd I remark here, all those plans or propositions which 
have for their aim the increase of the earthly means of 
human happiness, or the improvement or comfort of one'-s 
own condition, and which do not prevent the rendering to 
others of aught that is their due, are proper objects of man's 
faith ; provided, indeed, their practicability or truth is suf- 
ficiently probable. 

The exercise of faith in such objects, and the want of 
it, is what makes the difference between men of enterprise, 
progress and perseverance, and men of slack character, 
idle, irresolute habits, and stationary or retrograde con- 
dition. 

" He that observeth the wind shall not sow," says the 
writer of Ecclesiastes, " and he that regardeth the clouds 
shall not reap." It is only a probable truth that the hus- 
bandman shall gather the product of his toil, yet if he will 
not put faith in it, he becomes by his refusal a slack and 
idle man, and his children shall go hungry and be clothed 
in rags. And just so, whatever may be a man's occupa- 
tion in life, if he will not put faith in the prospects of suc- 
cess which lie before him, or the possibilities of obtaining 
a reward for his labor — in other words, if he will not act 
upon the supposition that he may reap if he will sow, a 
proposition which he sees to be a probable truth, he be- 
comes by his refusal an idle, irresolute being, whose charac- 
ter and condition will be continually receding from worse 
to worse. 

On the other hand, the man who ploughs and sows with 



122 DISCOURSES. 

diligence, acting on the supposition that he may reap ; or 
the man of business, who acts on a similar probable truth, 
and builds houses and stores, and buys merchandise and 
produce, and erects mills, and factories, and workshops, 
and sends to sea his ships, freighted with costly cargoes, 
and plans rail-roads, and takes and procures subscriptions 
to the stock, and opens canals, and erects telegraphic posts 
and wires, and invents and executes improvements in do- 
mestic and farming utensils, stoves, washers, ploughs and 
reapers, and in tools and steam-engines, and in house- 
building, and barns, and fences ; — such a man is a man of 
enterprise; and a man of progress. And such is the dif- 
ference which faith, in the proper objects of worldly activ- 
ity, and the want of faith, makes between one man and 
another. 

Sometimes, indeed, the truth in which the idle man re- 
fuses to put faith may not be the precise one which 
has been mentioned ; but the principle is the same. The 
truth that industry, and the competence which it would 
secure, would make him a happier man, may be the truth 
in which he refuses to put faith ; and so he hangs about 
from door to door, and lounges from store to shop, a lazy, 
lank, and dirty drone, with his hands slouched down into 
his empty pockets, and his hat slouched over his empty 
head, a very picture of miserable imbecility ; — and if he 
fall not into the devouring jaws of him who lieth in wait 
with his liquid fire to catch men, it is well. 

But let him put faith in that truth which he now rejects, 
and you j-hall see him a cheerful and contented man, and 
his late neglected family sitting around him in comfort, 
with gladness in every eye. 

And in like manner, every man who seeks to maintain 



DISCOURSES. 123 

himself in comfort, or to better his condition, acts and 
must act in faith in the proper objects of human activity. 
The hardy adventurer of the land of gold; the man who 
left the home of his sires among the hills of New-England, 
or on the Atlantic slope, to build his cabin on these prairies 
of the West ; the emigrant who fled from the old world, 
where men " grind the faces of the poor," and trample 
upon the weak, to seek on these occidental shores a home 
and bread, with liberty of life and conscience ; all these, 
and all like these, were men of faith. 

So too, it has been by faith that all those great deeds 
have been wrought in all times by which their actors en- 
nobled themselves, and blessed mankind. By faith, the 
philosophic Franklin lifted his kite into the storm, and 
brought the lightning from the cloud, and so taught men 
to defend their lives and property from the destructive bolt. 

By faith, a Fulton launched upon the waters, amid the 
sneers of unbelieving spectators, that grand experiment 
which was to lay open these broad, rich lands to the emi- 
grant, make our rivers highways of commerce, bring the 
choice productions of all climes to our feet ; nay, join all 
lands in a brotherhood of nations, and bless them with un- 
numbered gifts. 

By faith, Milton, when he stood a blind old man upon 
the verge of time, conceived in his mighty heart the thought 
of somewhat that his countrymen would "not willingly 
let die," and sung that lofty song which shall echo in every 
land to stir the soul with sublime emotions, and " vindi- 
cate the ways of God to man." 

By faith, Cromwell, when he told Hampden that the 
Parliament needed better soldiers than old broken down 
tapsters and serving men — it needed men who feared God, 



124 DISCOURSES. 

felt the power of conscience, and hated the devil — by faith 
he replied to the inquiry whether he could find and train 
such men, that he verily " thought he could do somewhat" 
and went forth to try ; and England felt the tread of his 
footsteps ; and the world feels it still ! 

By faith, Columbus, amid the scorn of mariners, mer- 
chants, wise men and princes, and with a sword hanging 
over his head, launched forth undauntingly upon the wa- 
ters of the untracked and seemingly boundless ocean, to 
seek a new world for the adventurous tread of men, and 
lay open a refuge for the oppressed and needy of all lands. 

By faith he began the perilous voyage, and by faith he 
prosecuted it ; and w r hen the hearts of the mariners failed 
them for fear, and in unbelieving despondency they de- 
manded to be carried back to their far-forsaken homes, and 
even conspired to cast him into the sea, by faith he stood 
among them all undaunted and unyielding, bidding them 
go forward still, till the New "World was found ! 

By faith, in after time, when a new r people had sprang 
up in this New World, those brave men, in national coun- 
cil assembled, on that memorable Fourth of July, pledged 
" their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" to the 
maintenance of the Declaration they had made ; and by 
faith our generals led, and our armies fought, till America 
was redeemed, the refuge for the poor, and the banner-land 
of freedom to all nations. 

All these men, we say, acted in faith ; in faith that the 
objects w r hich they sought could be attained by resolute 
hearts and well-directed efforts. 

I repeat, then, it is faith in the proper objects of human 
activity that produces all the enterprise and industry of 
men, begets all the noble deeds of great souls, causes all 



DISCOURSES, 125 

the improvements in man's earthly means of happiness, 
and is every year adding blessing to blessing and changing 
the whole face of our world.* 

Second. But there is another kind of worldly faith of 
which I have spoken, and to this I must now advert. This 
has already been characterized as faith in improper objects. 
Such objects are those which tend to degrade or corrupt 
the man who puts faith in them, or lead him to wrong his 
fellow. 

The creed of the avaricious man, comes under this denomi- 
nation. " Wealth is the great good," is the proposition to 
which he has given his faith: "the more money, the more 
pleasure." And so, he refuses every avoidable outlay; he 
drives hard bargains, not only with those who have means, 
but also with the poor — yea, even w T ith the widow and the 
fatherless ; he hires at the very lowest wages, and if pos- 
sible pays the poor lad when done in worthless trash ; he 
buys property at half its value, because some unfortunate 
man is forced to sell ; or gets it into his possession by dis- 
honorable means ; he takes advantage of some station of 
trust in w^hich he is placed to overreach his neighbor or 
the public, and yet keep strictly within the letter of the 
law ; he cheats his neighbor in selling him property or goods, 
though very careful, perhaps, to cheat him without telling 
any lies, lest he be confronted with his falsehood ; he shuts 
his heart close against the calls of benevolence, and will 
not own that God's poor have any right to God's property 
in his hands ; nay, though he has enjoyed the benefit of a 

* " Faith is the basis of all great, active enterprises. If a man cannot think 
well, nor write well, without faith ; so in all difficult enterprises, which imply 
physical as well as mental effort, he cannot act well, ." UpharrCs "Life of Faith,' ' 
Part i. ch. ii. The Sermon of Abp. Leighton, on " The Believer a Hero," will sug- 
gest the same thought. [Ed. 



126 DISCOURSES. 

free, peaceful, and prosperous country, enabling him to ac- 
cumulate his wealth and to enjoy it in safety, — a benefit 
procured for him by the toil of others — he will make no 
return; even his country, the public interest, appeals to 
him in vain ; with both hands fast upon his treasures he 
creeps on to old age, every nobler impulse of his nature, 
day by day drying up, and his moral stature shrinking into 
a more miserable and hideous decrepitude, as he approaches 
nearer to the time, when, stript and naked, he shall be hur- 
ried before his Judge. Such is the influence of the faith 
of the avaricious man — a faith in the proposition that riches 
are his greatest good. 

Another wretched faith is that of the sensualist. The 
idea upon which he acts is, that his highest happiness is to 
be found in securing the greatest amount of sensual grati- 
fication. And so, with such a faith, he quenches all the 
higher aspirations of his being, — blots out the finger-prints 
of Deity upon his soul, — assimilates himself to the brute 
creation, and makes himself viler than they, — lays his pol- 
luting and destroying touch upon the purity and peace of 
families, — nourishes in his breast and breathes around him 
odors of moral pestilence and death, — forgets God and the 
future, and riots in the present, and is gay in the midst of 
the ruin that he is, and that he makes, — and " dieth as the 
fool dieth." Such is the fruit of the sensualist's faith ; the 
man who mocks at the faith of the Christian. 

Another wicked faith is that of the soldier, the man of 
blood, who seeks what he calls glory, on the field of battle. 
His creed is, that it is better to hate his enemies, and 
butcher them by thousands, and prove himself more of a 
tiger than they, and so gain an illustrious name among 
men, than to endeavor to overcome evil with good, and 



DISCOURSES, 127 

live unhonored in the world ; and so he rushes into the 
conflict, shoots and stabs with frantic fury, and comes off 
covered with gory glory ! 

Another vile faith is that of the unprincipled politician, 
who thinks that the honor and emoluments of office are 
better than a useful independence, and a virtuous self-re- 
spect ; and so he barters his manhood for votes and his 
integrity for office, and lifts his rottenness above our heads 
to pollute the air we breathe. 

Another dreadful faith is that of the slave-trader. He 
thinks it probable that if he will man his ship, and set forth 
to a foreign shore, he may there be able to seize some of 
his unfortunate fellow beings, transport them to his native 
land, and sell them for beasts of burden with great gain. 
Upon this proposition, then, he acts. He sets out on his 
dreadful errand ; he makes the wretched Africans his prey 
he crowds them into the hold of his ship, he carries them 
over the burning sea, and sells them to our countrymen, 
who are willing to buy ! Oh ! he believes there is no God, 
or if there is a God he cannot hate iniquity, and there is 
no hell ! 

Such are the fruits, such is the influence upon human 
character, of an unrighteous worldly faith. And many 
are the wicked works it has wrought, of which we might 
tell. It was by such a faith that our rulers, lately, made 
cruel war upon an unhappy people, thinking to gain their 
land. It is in such a faith that some of our Southern states- 
men have threatened to dissolve the Union, — believing they 
could frighten the haters of iniquity into silence. It was 
in such a faith that Arnold betrayed his country, — faith in 
British gold. It was in such a faith that England once 
sent her armies to murder our countrymen, and ravage our 
towns, thinking she could reduce us under her yoke. 



128 DISCOURSES. 

It is by such a faith that Hungary is fallen, and Venice 
is crushed, and Italy once more enslaved ; the faith of 
tyrants in their soldiers and cannon. It has been by such 
a faith that tyrants all over the world have crushed and 
torn their unhappy subjects — faith in the blessings of pow- 
er and plunder. It was in sueh a faith that Herod de- 
stroyed the babes of Bethlehem, thinking to murder Christ. 
It was in such a faith that Judas betrayed his Master ; 
hoping for the thirty pieces of silver. 

All these, we say, and all the crimes with which earth 
has ever been stained, have been the fruits of an unright- 
eous faith. It is faith in the improper objects of human de- 
sire, that has produced all the debasement and the guilt of 
the human character ; that has begotten all the vile and 
cruel deeds of degenerate souls ; that has caused all the 
wretchedness that man has ever inflicted upon man ; and 
that is every year adding curse to curse, and striving to 
pollute the whole face of our sinful world.* 

Thus have we seen, the influence of a righteous and un- 
righteous worldly faith, upon the character and condition 
of men. We have seen that as their faith is, so are they : 
industrious, enterprising, progressive, and increasing in 
the means of enjoyment ; or, idle, vicious, full of shames 
and crimes, polluted in heart, and debased in mind, gath- 
ering treasures of wrath for the day when conscience shall 
assert its power. 



* " The undertakings of Alexander, of Hannibal, of Caesar, did not signify 
valor like to this ; their achievements were but toys in comparison to these ; 
those famous gallants would have found it infinitely harder to conquer the world 
in this way; to have subdued their lusts, and mastered their passions, would 
have proved far more difficult than to get advantage in scuffles with armed men." 
Dr. Barrow, on the Creed.— Sermon I. on Faith. 



DISCOURSES. 129 

I remark, finally, if guilty men would soberly look at 
the faith with which they are living, it would seem enough 
to turn them to the paths of righteousness. Especially 
would this seem true of the man, whether professing Christ 
or not professing, whose understanding assents to the truth 
of the Gospel, but who lives, notwithstanding, a worldly 
life. It is better to be a stranger to the love of Christ (is 
the faith of such a man), it is better to have no treasure 
in Heaven, it is better to love immoderately this world 
where I cannot stay, it is better to be an enemy of God and 
righteousness, it is better to have my own conscience con- 
demn me, and none justify me when I am judged ! 

Such is your faith, reader, if you are living in sin, yet 
owning that the word of Christ is true. 



DISCOUKSE VII 



Religious Faith. 

2 Corinthians, iv. 18 : "While we look not at the things which 
are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for the things 
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not 
seen are eternal" 

We have seen, in the discussion of our subject, that 
faith is a characteristic of all human actions ; and we have 
briefly glanced at the influence of a right and of a wrong 
worldly faith upon the human character and condition. 
We are now, therefore, prepared to see that a right reli- 
gious faith may be a thing, possibly, not unreasonable, and 
in its influence upon the character of man not altogether 
without value. To examine this subject is our present ob- 
ject : that is — 

3d. To show the nature, the moral character, and the influence 
of religious faith. 

Religious faith, I will define to be, faith in unseen, un- 
worldly things : or, expanding one of these terms, it is 
acting — with more or less of the feeling of assurance — upon 
the reality of unseen, unworldly things. 

It follows, from this definition, that there may be various 
kinds or species of religious faith, some of which may be 
wrong and injurious, and others, perhaps, right and good. 

The faith of the blinded pagan in his idol, is a religious 
faith. It may be an exercise of heart, belonging to a 



DISCOURSES. 131 

& false religion ; yet it pertains to a religion, and is, there- 
fore, a religious exercise. It is faith in an unseen spiritual 
power, residing in that dumb idol, that block of wood or 
stone. 

It may be a faith which consists with, or even lies in, 
acts of selfishness, cruelty, and sensuality : and so it often 
is. Such a faith is an impure and guilty religious faith, 
corrupting and debasing the soul which cherishes it, sink- 
ing its exalted powers, and spreading around it an aroma 
of death. The wretched idolater adheres, with worship 
and obedience, to that pretended God who permits — nay, 
who commands him to riot in lust and rage in cruelty, and 
live with his right hand full of lies and all iniquity. So it 
was with the sensual Greek, and the cruel Roman : offer- 
ing worship to Venus, to JBacchus, and to Mars ; and so it 
is now with millions of deluded pagans, bowing before the 
shrines of vice and cruelty, and filling themselves with every 
wrong. 

Such a religious faith is but the effort to obtain the pro- 
tection, aid, and favor of wicked supernatural beings, in 
those dreadful forms of sin which they would otherwise 
lack opportunity, or would perhaps otherwise fear, to com- 
mit. It is a faith as vile and as horrible as are the acts to 
which it prompts, or in which it often consists. 

Again, the faith of the Mohammedan in the doctrines of 
his Prophet, is a religious faith. It is faith in a cruel and 
partial God, in an iron fate, and in a sensual paradise be- 
yond the vicissitudes of time. It is a faith which, for the 
most part, allows and dictates the most hardened selfish- 
ness ; and whose motive is almost all that that selfishness 
can ask in this world, or hope for in the world to come. 
Some exception must, perhaps, be made, since even the 



132 DISCOURSES. 

Koran has been lately interpreted to prohibit traffic in 
human flesh, yet it will hardly be disputed that the gene- 
ral character of that faith, and its general influence on the 
minds of its recipients, is such as has been described. 

Again, the faith of the Papist in the Virgin Mary, and 
also in the atoning efficacy of penances and fasts, and the 
superabundant merits of the saints, is a religious faith. 
But when the former is exercised, because it encourages the 
soul in its neglect of God, and the latter is made use of to 
strengthen the heart in its secret purpose of continuing in 
sin, such is an unholy faith, which corrupts the soul and 
will bring down upon it the displeasure of a righteous God. 

And of just such a character and influence is that faith 
in Jesus Christ, which holds that He will justify by His 
blood the man who does not abandon sin in his heart, but 
is purposed to continue in his transgression of the law of 
righteousness. Any faith that is exercised to encourage 
the soul in wrong-doing, with promises of Divine forgive- 
ness and favor therein, is a most vile and wicked belief, 
since it is an exercise of thought and will proceeding from 
the guiltiest and basest intentions which it is possible the 
mind of man should conceive. And such a faith will 
steep the soul in baseness and iniquity ; and make it, if 
anything can, a fit inhabitant for the lowest hell. 

Is it not the fact that such is the faith which many seem 
to cherish toward the Lord Jesus Christ ? And thus are 
they perverting that which is most holy and most hallow- 
ing, into that which is most sinful, polluting, and God- 
abhorred. 

There are, then, or may be, religious faiths whose char- 
acter and influence are wrong and injurious, and more to 
be condemned, because more consummately selfish, than 



DISCOURSES. 133 

even the worst forms of the faith which look wholly to 
this world. 

But it is the nature, character and influence of one hind 
of religious faith, not yet mentioned, to which I wish 
mainly to direct attention : this is, Christian faith. Chris- 
tian faith may be defined to be, faith in the reality of those 
unseen things taught or affirmed by Jesus Christ These things 
concern God Himself, and a future world, and the rela- 
tions of man to the whole. Bringing into view, therefore, 
the nature of faith, the definition may be more fully ex- 
pressed thus : Christian faith, as an exercise or state of 
mind, consists in acting — with some feeling of assurance — 
or being resolved to act, upon the reality of what Christ 
has taught concerning Himself, concerning God, and a 
future state, and man's relations to the whole. 

The moral character of such a faith must be determined, 
evidently, by an examination of the nature of those teach- 
ings, and the nature and grounds of those actions which 
are based upon their truthfulness. 

Some of the truths inculcated by Jesus Christ, as will 
be admitted by those who have read the Gospels, are as 
follows : That God, the Creator, exercises a constant and 
particular control over the things of this world and the 
destinies of men ; that He is a Being of perfect goodness, 
and commands all men to love Him supremely, and to 
love one another as they love themselves ; that there is a 
life beyond the grave, a world to which the souls of men 
are hastening ; a Heaven, where " the righteous " shall 
have " life eternal," and a Hell, where the wicked " shall 
go away into everlasting punishment," " where their worm 
dieth not and the fire is not quenched ;" that He Himself 
(Christ) is the Son of God, and that He came down from 



134 DISCOURSES. 

Heaven to be the Saviour of men, who had sinned ; and 
that all who should obey Him should inherit eternal life. 

Now what kind of action is it, that is based upon these 
teachings as being true? Plainly, it is that kind of action 
which makes a man " righteous," whatever it may be. 
Nay, we may be specific : it is doing to all men as one 
would wish they should do to him ; loving supremely and 
obeying a Being conceived of as perfect in purity, good- 
ness and wisdom, and whose commands are all righteous ; 
and following the example and instructions of One, the 
purity and excellence of whose life and teachings have 
wrung the highest praises from the lips even of infidels, 
the world over. 

Now setting aside the question, How great is the proba- 
bility of the truthfulness of what Christ has said concern- 
ing the existence of a God who has commanded these right 
actions, and will reward and punish in another world ? it 
is evident that these actions are eminently virtuous, and 
the faith, of which they are the expression, is an emi- 
nently righteous faith. 

Nay ! while their probability is still recognized, the 
more uncertain the reality of those unseen things and those 
eternal consequences may appear, the more virtuous, as 
has already been observed, is this faith, since it proceeds 
the more upon the acknowledged righteousness of the Chris- 
tian precepts. Christian faith is a surrender of present 
and certain good where the law of right demands it, 
hoping for a reward unseen and future. The more un- 
certain, then, you affirm that reward to be, the purer do 
you proclaim the Christian's faith, who still obeys the 
right. And the more you urge that the Christian's faith 
is unfounded in reason, the more you assert that to be un- 



DISCOURSES. 135 

reasonable is right — a conclusion, the stroke of whose ab- 
surdity your own head must bear.* Will it be said that 
mqn may be taught to obey the Christian precepts without 
the Christian hope 1 Prove it ! 1 reply. Show that they 
ever have, or ever will ; or else acknowledge that those 
whom you assert to be the most unreasonable of men, are 
the most righteous, and that their folly has made them so — 
and so saying, utter your own condemnation. 

The man who obeys the Christian precepts, does it know- 
ing that they are holy and good ; and he is, therefore, a 
righteous man. The fact that he enjoys a sense of Divine 

* There is a very interesting phase of skepticism now extensively prevalent, 
which, from the premise above stated, deduces a different conclusion, viz. : that 
Christianity makes a future life too certain for the highest style of virtue. It is 
urged that many professing Christians seem more to rely upon the eternal re- 
ivard of virtue, than to regard the intrinsic loveliness of virtue. The early Chris- 
tians, who must rest their hopes mainly upon personal conviction, instead of a 
current and popular faith, gave less occasion for this skepticism, — though the 
ancients were ready enough to press their principle, that virtue is its own reward, 
in this way. But in the time of Pomponatius, the apparent establishment of 
the Christian faith gave new occasion for the old objection. This man, who was 
persecuted while living, and whose opinions are even now sadly misunderstood, 
did not deny the immortality of the soul, but rather maintained it as a fact 
proven by the Scriptures, and by them only. And he questioned the meta- 
physical and moral proofs of a future life, because they were vacated by the prin- 
ciple that virtue is its own reward. Those who understood this truth could, and 
would, be virtuous if there were no Heaven to allure them or no Hell to affright 
them. Endeavoring to show that the principles of Aristotle did not prove im- 
mortality, he says, in reply to an objection, ''Virtue requires that we should 
die for our country or our friends; and virtue is never so perfect as when it 
brings no dower with it." But he adds — " Philosophers and the learned only, 
know what pleasures the practice of virtue can procure, and what misery at- 
tends ignorance and vice ;— but men not understanding the excellence of virtue 
and depravity of vice, would commit any wickedness rather than submit to 
death." (See Warburtori s Div. Legat. i. iii., and Bayle's Diet.) 

We may reconcile the difficulties of the skepticism we have named, perhaps, 
thus: 1. A G-od of infinite goodness and wisdom may know how to encourage 
virtue without corrupting it. 2. The truly virtuous disciple of Christ regards an 
endless life not mainly as a future reward for present virtue, but as a boundless 
range for the exercise of virtue ; i. e., he would fain live for ever, that he may 
be for ever virtuous. 3. A certainty of future life can never be attained except 



136 DISCOURSES. 

favor, and a hope of future reward, does not take away his 
regard for the right, and does not, therefore, destroy his 
righteousness; it only encourages and confirms him in it, 
and prompts him to new efforts of obedience. Thus is he 
preserved from acts of transgression, and by a continued 
obedience grows stronger and stronger in his love of the 
right. 

We say, then, the activity of Christian faith is a righte- 
ous activity, consisting in virtuous acts ; and Christian faith, 
therefore, is a righteous faith, or a morally right exercise of 
mind. 

We come next to the consideration of its influence upon 
human character. That it is purifying in its influence is 
involved in what has just been said. It leads the soul to 
forsake evil and to practice righteousness ; and makes it by 
so doing strong in its love of the right. It is not, however, 
merely an external conformity to the law of moral purity 
that it requires and produces : a true exercise of Chris- 
tian faith implies an abandonment of thai selfishness of the 
heart which is the essence of all sin. It implies a hearty 
love for the character of Jesus Christ, and an effort to be 
like Him. It implies a choice of those holy joys which are 
the joys of heaven, and which dwell in the bosom of God 
Himself. Yes, it is a " faith which works by love, and 
purifies the heart.'' So far as it is exercised it destroys all 
those unholy passions by which man is led to wrong his 
fellow, and opens the heart to those generous sympathies 

by personal conviction, as distinct from current opinion, and conjoined with an 
advanced moral experience. This is the " full assurance of hope," of which Paul 
speaks. 4. The probabilities of a future life, found in the history and documents 
of Christianity, or in the wants of man, are eminently fitted to lead the indi- 
vidual on from selfishness or indifference, to an unselfish love of Christ, and an 
unselfish desire to dwell with Him in an endless life. — [Ed. 



DISCOURSES. 137 

by which balm and blessing are poured out on the wants 
and sorrows of the world. It cleanses the soul from all 
selfish and polluting lusts, and makes it the abode of love 
Divine. It is a purifying faith. But again, Christian faith 
is elevating in its influence upon human character.* And 
this, because it springs from the noblest motives, and looks 
to the most exalted and far-reaching objects that can em- 
ploy the mind of man. It is a faith that stops not to busy 
itself with the present, the finite and the perishing, but 
looks beyond, unto the future, the infinite and the ever- 
lasting. The man that lives by this faith is not circum- 
scribed by the sight of his mortal eyes, but is acting in view 
of objects eternal and without limit. He is not anxiously 
inquiring "what shall I eat and what shall I drink, and 
wherewithal shall I be clothed ?" but, when " shall this cor- 
ruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immor- 
tality f" He is seeking, not that " honor which comethfrom 
men," and which shall soon be forgotten ; but, that u honor 
which cometh from God," and shall endure like God Him- 
self. He is striving, not for a treasure which he shall leave 
behind him, with groans and tears in this burial place of 
his mortal body, but for a treasure to which he shall ascend 
amid the songs of angels, in the dwelling-place of immor- 
tal spirits, on the banks of the river of life. 

He asks not how he shall please u a man that shall die, 
and the son of man that shall be made as grass," but re- 
membereth " the Lord his Maker, that hath stretched forth 

* '• What can be more instructive than to trace the one great principle of faith 
in God. existing in combination with the most different degrees of moral know- 
ledge, yet always so ennobling the character in which it dwells as to raise it 
above the standard of its own times; and thus to witness in each generation 
that it is the true salt of human nature, the main element of its highest perfec- 
tion?" Dr. Arnold. Misc. Works, pp. 150, 151. 

7* 



138 DISCOUKSES. 

the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth." He 
weeps ever the trials and sorrows of life, not with the 
despairing cry that his hopes are destroyed, and evil hath 
overwhelmed him ; but with the soothing and consoling 
assurance that " all these things are working together for 
his good." He rejoices not in a hope whose tomb is in his 
sight, and darkness beyond it ; but in a hope whose bloom 
is everlasting, and whose blossoms shall unfold forever be- 
neath the shining of God's face. He walks life's pathway, 
not with a groan in his heart that the grave is before him, 
and that "his pomp and his rejoicing shall descend into it ;" 
but with the exalting cry ready to break forth from his 
lips : " O Death, where is thy sting: O Grave, where is 
thy victory !" Yea, he " lifteth up his eyes to the heavens, 
and looketh upon the earth beneath," and saith : "The 
heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall 
wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall 
die in like manner ; but the salvation of God shall be for- 
ever, and his righteousness shall not be abolished."* 

The faith of the Christian is an elevating faith, expanding 
the soul to the measure of things infinite and everlasting. 

It is also, once more, a faith that confers upon the soul the 
purest and most unchanging happiness. 

The feeling of assurance which attends the evidence of 
the truth may be at first feeble and faltering, and the joy 
of faith in its first uncertain steps may therefore be small. 

* It is in accordance, also, with the principles now advanced that the fact is 
found in human experience which is expressed in the maxim that u faith gives 
the mind a new perception." So many and so wonderful are the truths which 
the soul that has taken the Gospel as the object of its fervent faith is continually 
getting sight of, that it seems to itself to be endowed with new faculties to per- 
ceive. The eye of such a soul sees the hand-writing of God throughout all the 
forms in heaven and earth, uttering the same solemn lesson, and pointing to the 
same glorious hope which it has learned from the lips of Christ. 



DISCOURSES. 139 

But from the expansive nature of the mind under exercise, 
and the cumulative nature of moral evidence, that feeling 
will increase when the truth is acted on, and will continue to 
increase as obedience continues, until the joy which it shall 
give to the soul shall be such as no earthly power can dis- 
turb. 

Let the purpose of faith be strong and unwavering, and 
God has not so " left Himself without witness," but that its 
trust, its firm confidence, its holy peace, and its serene joy 
shall follow : — yea, they shall flow into the soul like life 
from heaven. Whether the Christian faith is true or not, 
such are the facts of human experience, as thousands have 
testified, and can testify. The widowed mourner, in her 
poverty and loneliness, has felt the consolation of this faith, 
and lifted her eye, with a tear of peace and gratitude, to 
those heavens where God her Saviour dwelleth. The 
" persecuted for righteousness' sake," and the martyr for 
the Gospel, have felt it, and been strong to suffer and to 
die for Christ. The man of active piety, the preacher of 
righteousness, and the tried and toiling witness for the 
"truth as it is in Jesus," have felt it, and though the whole 
world around was against them, they have toiled on with 
an energy and hope the world could not overcome. 

And it must be so. When we look at the objects of the 
Christian's faith, we see that it must be so. The sight of 
Infinite Glory, such as no created loveliness can compare 
with, no mortal goodness can resemble ! The love of that 
Glorious Being, unchanging and immeasurable ! The pres- 
ence of Jesus, the friend of sinners, for ever ! " An inherit- 
ance among all them that are sanctified," " incorruptible 
and full of glory !" All, all that a pure heart can wish, 
or that imagination can conceive, and the promise of even 



140 DISCOURSES. 

more ! These are the objects of the Christian's faith, and 
the joy which comes from hopes like these is the influence 
of that faith. And the man who lives by it will tell you 
that he is not left to the operation of merely natural causes 
for his peace and consolation; but that "the Spirit itself 
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
of God ; and if children, then heirs — heirs of God, and 
joint-heirs with Christ;" " whom not having seen we love ; 
in w T bom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we 
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving 
the reward of our faith, even the salvation of our souls."* 

I observe, in conclusion, Christian faith is a right religious 
faith, and a thing most to be desired for the human character. 
Until the infidel can find a faith more pure, more elevating, 
and more blissful in its influence, he should not sneer at this 
unless he would be found sneering at all that islovely and de- 
sirable in the human soul. What is the faith of the men of 
this world, compared with the Christian's faith ? Faith in 
things perishable, compared with faith in things imperisha- 
ble? Faith in things finite, with faith in things infinite ? 
Faith in sensual things, with faith in spiritual things ? Faith 
in joys earthly and transient, with faith in joys heavenly 
and everlasting ? And what is the faith of the infidel, 
compared with such a faith ? Faith in darkness, compared 
with faith in the light ! Faith in death compared with 
faith in life ! Faith in emptiness and nothing, compared 
with faith in an all-glorious Creator and God, and in all 
the good which such a Being can bestow ! 

May God save me from the Infidel's faith ! May I live 
with the Christian's faith in my heart, and die with it burn- 
ing on my lips in utterances of praise ! and you, dear 
reader ! 

* The Author in a note here alludes to " the exploits of religious faith," Heh. xi. 



DISCOURSE VIII.* 



Faith in God — Its Nature and Influence. 

Hebrews^ xi. 6 : " He that cometh to God must believe that 
He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek Him' 1 1 Pet. i. 21 : " That your faith and hope 
might be in God" 

In discussing the various applications of the principle or 
act of Faith — in other words, the various kinds of faith — 
we have noticed, in general, the nature, character, and in- 
fluence of worldly, and also of religious faith. The latter 
we have seen to be of various kinds ; and these kinds not 
all of one character. Without examining at all into the evi- 
dence by which they are substantiated, we have seen, from 
the character of the actions which constitute their activity, 
that some kinds of religious faith are of a vicious or wrong 
character, while others are virtuous or right. The various 
kinds of right religious faith now call for some further and 
more particular notice. There is faith in God — the God 
of the Bible ; His government and providential care ; His 
wisdom, His goodness and accessibility ; and faith in Christ 
also, as Redeemer, Lord, and Teacher. One of these we 
propose to discuss at this time ; or, considered under the 
general head of the various kinds of faith, to consider : 

4th. Faith in God — the God of the Bible. 

By faith in God is always meant, as was previously no- 

* A note of the author indicates his design, had he lived, to introduce in this 
Discourse the "relation of faith to morals, or the ground of obligation to it." 



H2 DISCOURSES. 

ticed, faith in some truth asserted concerning God ; as, for ex- 
ample, that He " loveth righteousness ;" or that He "hear- 
eth the cry of the humble ;" or, that His " eyes are open 
upon all the ways of the sons of men," and " whatsoever 
pleaseth Him, that doeth He in heaven and in earth, in the 
seas and all deep places ;" or it is faith in some other great 
truth respecting His being, character, or will. 

Thus, when it is said, that " by faith Noah, being warn- 
ed of God . . . prepared an ark, to the saving of his 
house," or, that " Abraham staggered not at the promise 
of God, through unbelief, but was strong in faith," this 
disposition, or act, of Noah and of Abraham is called " faith 
in God." But this expression is elliptical, for it evidently 
signifies faith in God's power and truthfulness ; in other 
words, faith in the proposition that God is able and true. 

The various truths asserted in Holy Scripture concern- 
ing the Lord Jehovah, and commonly denoted or referred 
to in the phrase " faith in God," may be comprehended 
under the terms of the providence, the goodness, and the acces- 
sibility of God. 

The word Providence I use here in its most comprehen- 
sive sense. It is asserted that the knowledge and power of 
God extend to all human events, and that He is exercising 
a moral government over men, and directing and control- 
ing all the actions and issues of life. All the truths em- 
braced in these propositions : — the Divine care for His 
creatures ; the Divine government over men, administered 
according to an expressed law; the Divine knowledge 
witnessing and even foreseeing every act and condition of 
human life ; and the Divine power, able to control and 
direct them all, within those limits which Supreme Wis- 
dom shall direct — all these truths are included under the 
term " Providence of God." 



DISCOURSES. 143 

The "goodness of God," denotes the truth, likewise as- 
serted by the Sacred Scriptures, that He is such a Being 
that all the acts, and the whole scheme and aim of His 
providence, are directed invariably by the supreme law of 
love, benevolence, compassion, and kindness toward the 
whole of His creatures, and toward each one of them, so 
far as the good of the whole will allow ; that He does so 
care for the happiness of each and all the inhabitants of 
this world, from the highest to the lowest, that nothing 
which His infinite power and all-seeing wisdom can do for 
their good, consistently with the great principles of univer- 
sal justice and supreme benevolence, will be left undone. 

And by the " accessibility of God" I mean another truth, 
equally asserted in Scripture — his accessibility to true sup- 
pliants ; or the fact that He regards the sincere prayers of 
His obedient creatures, and will grant their requests so far 
as the best principles of government will allow. 

In considering, therefore, the subject of faith in God, it 
is faith in these truths that we speak of : that God has en- 
acted a certain law for the moral conduct of men, and is 
administering a natural government over all the events of 
life in such a way as to carry out the principles of this 
government, and further its ends; that He Himself is gov- 
erned also in all the administration of this government, by 
the supreme law of love ; and that He will hear and an- 
swer prayer in accordanee with the dictates of the same 
law. In considering, therefore, first, the nature of faith in 
God, or what it is, we observe, it is faith in His providence, 
His goodness and accessibility. And to have faith in these 
is, to recognize their probability, and act upon them. 

The first of these elements, the recognition of the proba- 
bility of these great truths affirmed concerning the Lord 



144 DISCOURSES. 

Almighty, is perhaps wanting in but few minds among 
those who have been permitted to see the light of Divine 
Revelation. That they are probable, is what we cannot 
now pause to argue, but what we do, nevertheless, unhesi- 
tatingly and loudly affirm in the face of all men. And 
there is one idea touching the proof which I will here merely 
mention. It is quite commonly said, even among defend- 
ers of Christianity, that the benevolence of God must 
first be proved from nature alone, before a revelation from 
Him can be received as trustworthy. But this is not alto- 
gether true. The existence, in this world, of Jesus Christ is 
a phenomenon that requires to be accounted for ; and it 
can only be accounted for — we challenge the whole world 
to maintain the contrary — it can only be accounted for on 
the supposition that He did truly " come from God," and 
that God is a Being of infinite goodness, who does care for 
the happiness of men, and will visit their conduct with 
righteous retribution. 

The life of Jesus Christ in this world, therefore, is, in all 
which it comprehends, a moral demonstration of the be- 
nevolence and providence of God, even supposing there 
were no other proof. Nay, more ! We affirm that it is 
the greatest of all [roofs that can be offered ; and the proof 
upon which all Christian hearts, the world over, do mostly, 
and well nigh entirely, rely. 

But to return. The probability of these great asserted 
truths is seen at some period of their lives by most or all 
men who have the Bible in their hands, and certainly 
may be seen by all. It is only obedience to these truths which 
they lack to the possession of faith. To act upon them 
would make them true believers. 

To live in this world, as if one saw the hand of God 



DISCOURSES. 145 

moving amid all its shifting scenes and events ; raising up 
one, and putting down another; directing with resistless 
power the issue of every human plan and effort ; and giving 
to one prosperity, and to another adversity, as He will, 
(though not without reference to man's employment of 
means) ; and to live, therefore, as if it were folly to strive 
for earthly good out of the line of rectitude ; to act as if 
it were true that God does govern and decide the mortal 
and immortal destinies of men, and as if were best, therefore, 
to obey His righteous laws and endeavor to please Him ; 
to take no event of life as fortuitous, but seeing in every 
one a Divine meaning, or searching therefor, to make such 
use of it as God designed ; to rest upon the care of the 
Almighty and all-seeing one, and refuse to entertain 
desponding and anxious thoughts about the future of this 
life ; to live as if that future were safe, so long as the heart 
shall keep itself right with God, giving it all up into the 
keeping and disposal of that unsleeping hand, and striving 
only to see and follow the pointing of its unerring finger ; 
to run forward with alacrity upon the shining pathway of 
God's holy precepts, as if one saw, in very deed, the wreath 
of immortal glory hung out before him from the opening 
portals of celestial bliss ; this, this is faith — faith in the 
Providence of God ! 

To receive all the good gifts of life as the gracious offer- 
ings of Divine love, answering them back with grateful 
devotion; to turn the eye upward in the midst of provo- 
cation and annoyance, and be calm ; to check the fount of 
weeping when sorrow cometh, and light up the tearful cheek 
with smiles, by the thought that, though darkness is writ- 
ten in gloomy lines upon its front, brightness is behind the 
cloud — an "exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" and 



146 DISCOURSES. 

to bow down under the chastisement without a murmur ; 
to live as if sure that no evil can happen to the righteous 
soul, but it shall find life and blessing forever ; to live as 
if the presence that filleth heaven and earth were a pres- 
ence of light and love, and the sympathies of infinite emo- 
tion were on the side of pure and high benevolence ; and 
as if the hate and cruel wrong of this world were but a 
dark spot in the far corner of a universe of radiant glory ; 
and as if the strength of immeasurable might were arrayed 
against sin, and on the side of holiness ; this it is, to have 
faith in the Goodness of God. 

To act, as though it were true that the entreating voice 
of the penitent and obedient heart were heard of God ; to 
act, as though there were help to be found in time of need, 
by asking it of the Lord ; to live, as though there were 
rich treasures of grace and blessing, which God is ready to 
bestow upon him that maketh request ; to entreat, as 
though the tide of sin and sorrow, that sweeps over this 
world, could be rolled back by the voice of supplication, 
and the dark places of death and misery be made effulgent 
by the light of life ; to ask, as though men were perishing 
of need, and as though the infinite and eternal treasures of 
God's bounty were running over in His hands, and ready 
to be given to ten thousand souls for the entreaty of one ; 
to pray, as if prayer would rend the crystal firmament and 
bring down heaven to earth, and God to dwell in the habi- 
tations of men ; — this it is to have faith in God's willing- 
ness to answer prayer. 

If men would thus live, thus worship, and thus pray, 
then at His coming would the Son of Man " find faith 
on the earth." 

And it is only in proportion as men do thus live, adore, 



DISCOURSES. 147 

and continually pray, that they have " faith in God." And 
what is wanting in most men to this faith, is not, as has 
already been remarked, the intellectual conviction, but the 
willingness of the heart to act upon it. It is true that by 
refusing so to act, men may stifle this conviction, and lose 
it entirely ; but I believe, at some period of their lives, 
God gives it to most men so as reasonably to demand their 
obedience. And there are thousands who live all their 
days with an intellectual belief of the character and gov- 
ernment of God, who yet never make it a practical, Scrip- 
tural faith, by lives of obedient holiness. 

It is possible, indeed, to conceive of a being who shall 
have a wicked faith in the providence and goodness of God. 
This is when the understanding recognizes these truths, 
and the heart openly curses and rebels against them. This 
is acting on them ; but it is acting according to the dic- 
tates of a satanic spirit. Such bold and dreadful wicked- 
ness, it is to be hoped, is never perpetrated in this world : 
in the dark world of damned spirits it may be. There, it 
may be, the lost soul casts off all restraint, and exposes its 
awful wickedness to the gaze of angels and men, acknowl- 
edging that God is good and doeth good, and cursing Him 
for it!* 

* In common with multitudes in our day, the author felt the difficulty of re- 
conciling the Divine goodness with the final and eternal misery of the lost. This 
■was the heaviest burden of his faith, and it prepared him to be astonished at 
the force of reasoning in certain arguments respecting the nature of the second 
death, " contrary to his previous convictions,"' — and made him very anxious to 
see a new discussion of the subject. 

In the above paragraph he approaches, we think, a true and very important 
view of the subject, viz. : that those who at the last prove unworthy of eternal 
life, would prefer that God should appear to have been unjust, or even malignant, 
towards them ; and the vanishing of all their cherished doubts of His goodness 
will be their bitterest anguish. Just as, to one who has through distrust allowed 
an alienation of friendship, there is nothing so torturing as the too late discovery 
that the affection of an injured friend has been ever constant. — [Ed. 



1 



148 DISCOURSES. 

But that faith in the providence and goodness of, God, 
which is generally or always found in this world, where 
there is any faith at all, is the faith which acts upon these 
truths by obedience and love. Such, at least, is the faith 
we are considering, which is a righteous faith. 

And speaking of such a faith, we say : he believes in 
the providential care of God who commits all his interests 
into the Divine keeping and refuses to think of fear ; he 
believes that God governs men by a righteous law, who, 
knowing that it is therefore best to obey that law, acts upon 
it by obeying ; he believes in the goodness of God who 
adores Him for it, nourishes his hopes and allays his griefs 
by it, and cherishes in his soul the love of goodness by the 
power of its infinite sympathy and measureless attraction ; 
and he believes that God heareth prayer, who acts upon it 
with glad and unceasing supplication. 

Such, dear friends, is the nature of faith in God. But 
let us now notice, 

Secondly, the peculiar influence of such a faith* After such 
a view of its nature, indeed, it needs not to speak particu- 
larly of its influence ; yet it may be well for a moment to 
direct attention to this point alone. I remark, then (first) 
such a faith enlarges the soul. Man must believe something 
— must act, as we have seen, upon some probable truth ; 
and what truth can be proposed to him so high and expan- 
sive as the doctrine of a God? What other practical 
truth can compare with it I What other practical truth, 
concerning the affairs of this world, is so expansive to the 

* The following note of the author indicates the changes he would have made 
in this discussion : " Peculiar influences ; — better — 1st, Elevate the soul ; 2d, 
Draw into fellowship with God (i. e., by faith in the doctrine of prayer) ; 3d, 
Nourish, by sympathy, &c, the principle of love; 4th, To give firmness and sta- 
bility to the character,, taking away the fear of man." 



DISCOURSES. 149 

thoughts and so ennobling to the heart that believes it, as 
this truth, that they are all wielded by an Omnipotent 
Hand, and directed by an Omniscient Eye, to the accom- 
plishment of the purposes of Infinite Goodness 1 ? that God 
is in the world, turning the current of its history, leading 
on His people in the paths of life, overruling the machina- 
tions of His enemies, bringing order out of its confusion 
and light out of its darkness, and rolling on the mighty 
tide of its events to the grand and glorious consummation 
of " righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost l ? ' 

How elevating is the faith of the politician, or the soldier , 
compared with such a faith ? The faith of a Napoleon, in 
the prowess of his own genius, when the hour of dreadful 
conflict was approaching, may have possessed a seeming 
grandeur and sublimity ; but what was it to the faith of a 
Cromwell in the Invisible and Almighty God of battles, 
who could rule, with a whisper, the raging of His foes, or 
blow away His enemies with the breath of His mouth J ] 

The faith of a Pitt, in the power of his alliances and 
his financial schemes, to stay the march of the dreaded con- 
queror, and deliver trembling and bleeding Europe, may 
seem imposing to the looker-on ; but what was it to the 
faith of a Washington, who bent his knee in prayer to 
Him who ruleth the hearts of men, and can " deliver the 
needy when they cry f" 

The faith of a Columbus, in a new world beyond the 
untravelled ocean, was elevating and inspiring to the soul, 
and most worthy of a noble genius ; but what was it, in 
all its greatness, to the faith of every humble Christian in 
that new and invisible world beyond the flood of death, 
whose brightness outvies the sun, and where the city of 
our God sheds the radiance of its jasper walls, day without 
night, upon the happy bands of the redeemed ! 



150 DISCOURSES. 

Come here, ye great men, and ye aspiring and proud, 
come here and learn wisdom of him who has faith in God, 
though it be but a lowly child. 

Who is the great man ? He who lives as if this world 
were all— toiling, it may be, with an angel's strength, to 
master as much as mortal fingers can grasp of its power, 
or wealth, or fame, to die in a few days and leave it ? or 
he who almost forgets this world in his sense of the pres- 
ence therein of its Almighty and glorious Creator, and 
who lives borne up continually on the wings of infinite 
thought, and illumined with all the radiance of eternal 
truth % Such is the man who has a living and abiding 
faith in God ; and such is the expansive influence of this 
faith upon the soul. 

But (secondly) this faith tends to rectify the character. Its 
activity consists, in part, of obedience to the great laws of 
rectitude which all men acknowledge to be contained in 
the Christian Scriptures in the utmost purity. And -more 
than this, it places a man at such an elevated position as 
makes him regard sin as the blindest folly, and uprightness 
as true wisdom, while it holds also before his eyes a pic- 
ture of immortal blessedness to animate his upward steps. 
It is the man who forgets God, and none else, that ima- 
gines wickedness to be gain, and perversity to be the path 
of peace. He who has faith in God, has faith in the wis- 
dom of uprightness. 

But again, this faith nourishes, by sympathy and attraction, 
the principle of love. Man, who is so easily and so power- 
fully influenced by sympathy, is too often led astray by the 
sympathies of evil which surround him in this world. But 
he whose faith is in God, lives under the influence of a 
greater sympathy for good than all the sympathies for evil 



DISCOURSES. 151 

which the whole world can present. He feels, in whatever 
circumstances, that few are on the side of selfishness ; for 
God, who is infinitely more than all, is on the side of love. 
The emotions of an Infinite Mind, and the attractiveness 
of spotless and immeasurable goodness, are appealing to 
his sympathies and his affections, and drawing him over 
more and more to true benevolence. 

How hardening, often, to a young and generous heart, is 
that selfishness with which it meets on entering actively 
into life ; and how lost is the soul which has lost its faith 
in goodness. One truly benevolent friend will sometimes 
save from moral ruin a soul that without him was fast run- 
ning into this unbelief. It is something to have faith in 
goodness, even in a human being, imperfect as its manifes- 
tation must be ; yea, it is much. But how much more to 
have faith in goodness, infinite and without spot, in the 
person of an omnipresent and Almighty God ! 

But finally, the influence of faith in God is to give peace, 
and hope, and joy. " I have set the Lord always before 
me," is the language of the possessor of this faith ; " be- 
cause He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." " I 
will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me." "My 
soul shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, and my 
mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips ;" . " in the shadow 
of thy wings will I rejoice." "Although the fig-tree shall 
not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor 
of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat ; 
the flock shall oe cut off from the fold, and there shall be 
no herd in the stalls, — yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will 
ioy in the God of my salvation." 

There is no faith like faith in God ! Is yours such a 
faith, reader % or do you believe in the promises of this 



152 DISCOURSES. 

world, and refuse to believe in God? "According to your 
faith " it will be unto you; hope, joy, and peace, with in- 
creasing purity and expansion of soul, in this world ; or 
disappointment, restlessness, and remorse : and in the world 
to come, if the Bible is true, a difference that tongue can- 
not speak nor imagination conceive ; and a difference that 
endures and increases for ever. 



DISCOURSE IX, 



Faith in Christ — Regenerating. 

1 John, v. 1 : " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christy 
is born of God." 

In our examination of the subject of right religious faith, 
we have discussed the general topic of Faith in God ; and 
it now remains, in accordance with our original design, to 
treat : 

5th. Of Faith in Christ. 

In accordance with what has been previously said, the 
term " faith in Christ " denotes faith in some truth or 
truths concerning Him. It is more commonly used, indeed, 
with reference to some particular truth, or asserted truth : 
for example, that He procures and bestows the pardon of 
my sins. But when used in a general and comprehensive 
sense, it properly denotes faith in the truthfulness and 
Divine authority of all that Christ taught, whether con- 
cerning God, or Himself, or the soul of man ; or, in sim- 
pler form, Faith in Christ is faith in all the teachings of 
Christ. 

This, indeed, is the only proper significance of the term, 
except when the circumstances of its use show the mean- 
ing to be more restricted. No man has faith in Christ, in 
the full and worthy sense of the term, who has not faith 
in all that he hears and sees Christ to teach. 

Now, if I understand aright those teachings, it will be 

8 



154 DISCOURSES. 

found that three distinct hinds of faith are involved in this 
faith in Christ, which may be called by the names, Regen- 
erating, Justifying, and Sanctifying Faith, using these terms 
in their common significance among Christians. 

These three kinds of faith in Christ, I propose to con- 
sider separately, showing the reality of each in its own 
proper connection, And, as our present subject of con- 
templation, let us notice 

First, Regenerating Faith. 

It is the doctrine of Paul, that " God was in Christ, re- 
conciling the world unto Himself." The Apostle held? 
then, that men are the enemies of God, and that by Jesus 
Christ they are, in some manner, changed to friends. But 
this change, by which they who were enemies become 
friends of God, must be, in some respect or to some ex- 
tent, their own act ; and this act must be founded, accord- 
ing to the declaration of the Apostle, upon something 
which they have seen or heard in Christ ; and it must, 
therefore, be an act of faith in Christ. 

But it is my present purpose to show, from Christ's own 
words, that faith in Him involves this change : a change 
commonly called, from the language which he used to 
Nicodemus, regeneration, or the new birth. Christ taught 
that when He was " lifted up," He would " draw all men 
to Him." And why draw to Him'? u Come unto me. 
all ye that labor," He says. Why % " And I will give 
you rest." "If any man thirst," he says agaiu, " let him 
come unto me and drink." " He that believeth in me, out 
of his belly (bosom, heart,) shall flow rivers of living 
water." " He that cometh to me shall never hunger : he 
that believeth in me shall never thirst." "Whosoever 
cometh to me, and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I 



DISCOURSES. 155 

will show you to whom he is like : he is like a man who 
built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on 
a rock ; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehe- 
mently upon the house and could not shake it, for it was 
founded upon a rock." To come to Christ, then, to believe 
in Him, to hear and do His sayings — in other words, to 
act upon His teachings as true, which is, to have faith in 
them, is to And rest for the soul, to satisfy its thirst, to 
make it overflow with the water of life, and feed upon that 
bread which causeth it to hunger no more ; yea, it is to 
build one's spiritual house upon a rock whereon the swell- 
ing and vehement floods can never overwhelm it. Such a 
man, surely, is born again, if there is such a thing : by 
faith in Christ he has become a new creature, if any do. 

But the truth of our present position may be more par- 
ticularly shown from the words of Christ, and by an appeal 
to every man's knowledge of the human heart. It will be 
shown, therefore, in the first place, that Christ taught the 
necessity, of the new birth to man's highest good ; from 
which it will follow, in the second place, that faith in Him 
involves the act or acts by which a man becomes regene- 
rate, if there are any such acts ; and that there are, will 
likewise be shown by the nature of Christ's commands, 
contrasted with every man's knowledge of human kind. 

(1). That Christ taught the necessity of the new birth to man's 
highest good. 

He said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God." And at another time, 
to those who were attending daily on his instructions, He 
said, " Except ye be converted, (eav fir) arpa^rjre, except 
ye turn or change,) and become as little children, ye enter 
not the kingdom of Heaven." " And what shall it profit 



156 DISCOURSES. 

a man," he says to all, " if he shall gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul?" Christ, then, does teach man's 
need of being born again, in order to his highest good. 

But let us now inquire what Christ means by this new 
birth ; or what, according to His doctrine, it implies* And 
I observe, it implies (1st) a sense of sin preceding. 

He spake a parable, of a Pharisee who congratulated 
himself before God for his righteousness, and a publican 
who " smote upon his breast, saying, 6 God be merciful to 
me, a sinner.' " And " this man," He tells us, " went down 
to his house justified rather than the other ;" for it is " he 
that humbleth himself," that " shall be exalted." 

And in the parable of the prodigal son, He represents the 
wanderer returning to his father and saying, " Father, I 
have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight, and am no 
more worthy to be called thy son." 

But again, the new birth implies repentance from sin. The 
burden of Christ's preaching, we are told, was, u Repent: 
for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." The new 
birth was the necessary preparation for that Kingdom, as He 
declared to Nicodemus ; but here we are told that men 
must repent, to be ready for it : so that either they are 
identical, or one must be included in the other. And when 
men told Him of the Galileans, " whose blood Pilate had 
mingled with their sacrifices," He answered, " Except ye 
repent, ye, likewise, shall all perish." 

(3d), The new birth implies that they who have expe- 
rienced it live in obedience to God. " For," says the Lord 
Jesus, u not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth 
the will of my Father who is in Heaven." That new birth, 
therefore, which prepares the soul for that Kingdom, 



DISCOURSES. 157 

brings after it obedience to God; and must, therefore, itself 
be the beginning of that obedience. And what is implied, 
according to the teachings of Christ, in obedience to God? 

We answer, (first) a new state of spiritual apprehension. 
He represents men as walking in darkness, and stumbling 
over their own members into perdition. But " if any man 
will do the will of Him that sent me," He says, " he shall 
know of my doctrine:" his spiritual understanding shall 
be renovated and quickened, so that he shall perceive the 
Divinity that speaks in me, and shall know in whom he 
has believed. 

It implies (secondly) a new state of the affections. The 
first and great commandment of God, according to the 
teaching of Christ, is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart ; and the second is like unto it : Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That obedience, then, 
which is implied in the new birth of which Christ speaks, 
embraces a supreme and controlling love to God, and a love 
to all the human family, which makes their interests as sa- 
cred as one's own. 

It implies, therefore, (thirdly) a new mode of treating 
the Divine instructions. " He that is of God," says 
Christ, "heareth God's words." To hear God's words, is 
to have the ears open to receive, and the heart ready to 
obey them. It does not allow that a man should live in 
forgetfulness of his Creator, hearkening only to the per- 
suasive voices of earthly pleasures and enticements ; it im- 
plies the disposition continually to seek wisdom of Him 
that " giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." 

(Finally), Obedience to God implies a different fruit of 
the life, from that which was before yielded by disobe- 
dience. Of one in that former state, Christ says that " he 



158 DISCOURSES. 

layed up treasures for himself and was not rich toward 
G-od ;" and he declares of all men, that " by their fruits ye 
shall know them. "A good man, out of the good treasure 
of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man, 
out of evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things." 

But we come now to observe (2) that faith in Christ in- 
volves the act or acts by which man becomes a new creature. 

To have faith in Him, is, as we have seen, to act on the 
truth of all his teachings. But one of His doctrines has 
been shown to be, that the new birth is essential to man's 
highest good. And this is what every man seeks. Every 
man's life is a life of faith in some proposition, whether 
formally stated or not, which claims as its object the high- 
est good. The ambitious soldier acts on the proposition 
that honor is the greatest good; the covetous man. that 
money ; the debauchee, that pleasure is the greatest good ; and 
their lives are lives of faith in these propositions. And, in 
like manner, he who has faith in Christ is one who acts on 
Christ's proposition, that to be renewed in heart is essential 
to man's highest good ; and he is one, therefore, who per- 
forms the act or acts by which he becomes regenerate, if 
any such acts there are. 

That there are such acts will be seen as we evolve now 
more particularly from the nature of the new birth the 
great truth now insisted on, that this change is involved 
in faith in Him. 

Repentance from sin, and beginning obedience to God, 
as we have already seen, constitute this change. And 
Christ has declared that except men repent they shall all 
perish, and that he only who doeth the will of His Father 
shall enter the kingdom of heaven. 

To have faith in Christ is to act on his teachings as true ; 



DISCOURSES. 159 

and to act on these teachings is to repent and form the 
purpose of obedience. Faith in Him, then, involves re- 
pentance and beginning obedience ; that is, it involves the 
change or renewal of the heart, which Christ has called 
the new birth. 

It is in accordance with what has now been said, and is 
explained by it, that we find so often in the New Testa- 
ment, the word " believed" used as nearly equivalent to the 
term " repented." Thus it is said that when some who 
were scattered abroad upon the persecution which arose 
about Stephen, preached the Lord Jesus at Antioch, " a 
great number ' believed,' and turned to the Lord ;" and 
when Paul and Barnabas preached in Iconium, it is said 
that '• a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the 
Greeks, believed ;" and in Corinth, at the preaching of 
Paul, "many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were 
baptized ;" and so in many other places. In these pas- 
sages, the word "believed" plainly includes the idea of re- 
pentance ; as we have seen that faith, in its full import, 
always does. 

I wish now to put it to all my readers, of whatever sen- 
timents they may be, whether believers in the Divine origin 
of Christianity or not. I wish to put it to the consciousness 
of every one, whether true faith in Christ does not involve 
so great a change from the common and natural character 
of man, that it may be fitly said of him who exercises it, 
if such an one there is, "he is a new creature,' ' he is 
" born again." 

This faith consists, as we have seen, in acting on Christ's 
teachings a 3 true. But he has taught that salvation and 
true happiness, which all desire, are to be found only in 
obedience to the Divine commands, which, he declares, are 



160 DISCOURSES. 

such as these : — Thou sbalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, might, mind, soul, and strength ; whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; 
resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right 
cheek, turn to him the other also ; love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 
pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute 
you ; lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, but 
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ; be not anxious 
for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink ; nor 
yet for your body, what ye shall put on ; seek first the 
Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you. 

Is not the man who shall obey these commandments, 
compared with the general character of mankind, is he not 
one " born again ?" is he not " a new creature V 9 I put it 
to your own conscience ; and I know that that conscience 
will sustain the words of Christ as fitly spoken ; and you 
will say, in the words of his Apostle, " if any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creation." 

But again, let me urge upon my hearers the truth, that 
no man believes in Christ who is not renewed, 

I will not assert that a man must assent to this or that 
theological dogma to be a believer in Jesus. Men may 
perhaps differ much about many doctrinal propositions with- 
out knowing, and therefore without virtual disobedience 
to the will of God ; but practical righteousness and piety 
is too plain a matter ; they cannot but understand here. 

To love your enemies ; to do good to them that hate 
you ; to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
ness ; to obey all the moral precepts of Christ, and thus to 
be a new creature — this it is to have faith in Him ; and 
without this obedience and the change of heart which it 



DISCOURSES. 161 

involves, in some good degree, you have not faith in Him ! 
Your faith is only in proportion to your obedience ; only 
in proportion to the newness of your heart and life. You 
may admire the character of Christ, and the utterances of 
his lips. Your understanding may assent to the reasona- 
bleness of all his claims, as you interpret them, and to the 
Divine Authority of His words. Nay, you may profess 
your belief in the highest and the truest interpretation that 
is ever put upon his language. But if you obey not His 
Divine commandments, and if you are not thus renewed in 
heart, you have not a living, a true faith in Him ! 

There are many all over this Christian land, and there 
are not a few, perhaps, in this congregation, who do as- 
sent at times, with their understanding, to the teachings of 
Christ ; they have been educated, thus far, to believe in 
Him — but they do not begin heartily to act upon them as 
true. If they would do this, they would be believers ; for 
obedience is all they lack to faith. They need no more 
convincing — no more enlightening — they need only to be 
persuaded to obey ; then would they have Jaith, practical 
faith. And until they do this they will live with all the 
guilt of unbelief upon them. 

You, of whom I am speaking, how long will you dis- 
obey ] How long will you refuse to believe in Christ % 
How long will you believe the deceitful promises of sin, 
and turn your feet from the way of wisdom % 

"Come unto me," he says, " all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give j>ou rest." You will not find 
it in the world. You will not find it in the way of trans- 
gression. " In the way of righteousness there is life ; and 
in the pathway thereof there is no death." " Blessed are 
they that hear the word of God, and keep it /" 

8* 



DISCOURSE X 



Faith in Christ— Justifying. 

John vi. 29 : "Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the 
work of God } that ye believe on Him whom He hath sentP 

That there is a faith in Christ which regenerates the 
soul, and what it is, has already been a subject of discus- 
sion. This we have termed regenerating faith. In accord- 
ance with the plan proposed, we will now consider — 

Second, That kind of faith in Christ which I have called 
Justifying Faith. 

The word "justifying " I use here in its common accep- 
tation among evangelical Christians ; i e., to denote that 
faith by the exercise of which a man receives the pardon 
of his sins, or his release from the penalty of God's law, 
due to his past transgressions. It is only with the idea of 
subjection to such a penalty, that pardon, or forgiveness for 
sin, can be spoken of. And the faith which secures this 
pardon, I have called, in accordance with a very common 
usage, justifying faith. 

To exhibit the nature of this faith, then, I would say : to 
exercise justifying faith in Christ, is to act on the supposition 
that God will forgive one 1 s past sins, for the sake of the atoning 
sacrifice which Christ offered on the Cross. 

If any man use the term to denote anything else than 
this, I will not deny his right to do so. But I claim at 
least an equal right to use it in this sense ; and this is the 
use which I shall make of it ; this is what \ mean by it. 



DISCOURSES. 163 

Such a faith, I next remark, is possible. It is as possible 
for a man to act on the supposition that God will forgive 
his sins, for the sake of Christ's atoning blood, as it is for 
him to act on the supposition that He will forgive them 
for any other reason ; or, as possible as it is to act on the 
supposition that his sins need no forgiveness ; or, that he 
has no sins to be forgiven. 

And Christ teaches such a proposition. So, at least, I un- 
derstand Him. The first passage in which He seems to 
teach it, is found in the third chapter of John. After tell- 
ing Nicodemus the necessity of the new birth, and hearing 
him express his surprise and doubt, Christ goes on to say : 
Yerily, we speak that we do know ; and you believe not. 
You came to me for instruction, acknowledging me to be 
from Heaven ; but if you will not believe the earthly part 
of my doctrine, how will you believe if I tell you of the 
heavenly part ? 

Now the question arises, what is this heavenly part ? 
Christ is surely treating, through all this passage, of what 
is necessary to man's salvation. Repentance, or the new 
birth, He has affirmed to be necessary, on man's part, 
(though He has not affirmed it to be all that is necessary,) 
and Nicodemus's surprise at this He has reproved as unbe- 
lief of rd kuiyeia — the earthly things ; and He must there- 
fore mean by rd errovpavLa, or the heavenly things, that which 
is necessary, on God's part, to man's salvation, whatever 
that may be — necessary, too, when man has already per- 
formed his part. You come to me for instruction, He says. 
I tell you that except a man be born again, he cannot enter 
the kingdom of Heaven. You are amazed at this. But 
this is not all I have to tell y ou ; and if you stick at this 
part of my doctrine, the earthly things, how will you believe 
if I tell you the rest, the heavenly things ? 



164 DISCOURSES, 

This is what Christ says to Nicodemus ; and what can 
be more evident than that Christ meant to teach, that this 
new birth, hard as the doctrine is, is not all that is neces- 
sary to salvation ; but when this is done, something more is 
necessary on the part of God ? 

And now, after asserting that He alone was qualified to 
teach these truths, He goes on to declare these " heavenly 
things :" "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted ; that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him might not perish, but have eternal 
life." Here is evidently asserted the necessity of His death 
on the Cross, in pursuance of the Divine plan for giving 
salvation to man. But we have seen already that this was 
something necessary on the part of the Divine Being, in ad- 
dition to what was necessary on the part of man. The 
death of Christ, then, on the Cross, was necessary to God's 
forgiveness of the penitent. And with this idea accords 
the whole stamp of the language. c - Just as the serpent 
was lifted up by Moses, that those who had faith to turn 
their eyes upon it might be saved temporally, even so must 
Christ be lifted up on the Cross, that those who have faith 
in Him might be saved eternally." 

To look to Christ in the manner indicated by such a 
comparison, implies penitence as already existing in the 
mind, and seeking some method of escape from wrath. The 
whole teaching of this passage, then, seems to be, that pen- 
itence is necessary ; yet it is not enough for salvation — 
there is no promise given to penitence — but that faith in 
the Crucified One is also necessary ; and to this faith the 
promise of salvation is given, previous penitence being im- 
plied. 

Another passage, which seems to teach the same great 



DISCOURSES. 165 

doctrine, is found in the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew. 
Giving the cup to his disciples, at the Last Supper, Christ 
said to them, " This is my blood of the New Testament, 
which is shed for many, for the remission of sins." 

The question here to be determined is, Does the phrase 
" remission of sins " denote the putting away from the soul 
of its sinful character, or the putting away from it of the 
penalty of sin ? That the latter is its meaning, seems evi- 
dent from other Scriptural usage, and from the words of 
Christ Himself. 

The second chapter of Acts, thirty-eighth verse, literally 
translated, reads thus : " Then Peter said unto them, Re- 
pent ye, and let every one of you be baptized in the name 
of Christ, for the remission of sins." Now repentance is the 
putting away of sin from the soul ; and this passage teaches 
that repentance and baptism are, both together, the procur- 
ing cause of " remission of sins." " Remission of sins," 
therefore, cannot be "the putting away of sin from the soul." 

But Christ's words also teach the same thing. In His 
last interview with His disciples, after His resurrection, He 
told them " that repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in His name among all nations." 

Again I say, then, repentance and remission of sins are 
two things : the one is the putting away of sin from the 
soul ; the other is the putting away or removal of its pen- 
alty — the only other possible meaning. 

When Christ, therefore, says, " This is my blood, shed 
for the remission of sins," He does not mean, shed to make 
men repent ; but shed to procure them pardon. And this 
pardon, as is taught in the passage quoted from John, and 
in many other places, is given to him who believes in Jesus. 

And now I remark, in the next place, there is nothing 



166 DISCOURSES. 

unreason able, or revolting, in the doctrine just deduced. 
There are many who seem to think there is. They say, 
it is abhorrent and monstrous to suppose that God would 
cause His innocent Son to suffer, in order to save guilty 
men from punishment which must otherwise be inflicted 
on them, for their sins. These persons will admit, however, 
that Christ suffered in order to turn men from sin ; and in 
this way, then, in order to save them from the consequences 
of sin, L e., from its natural consequences. They, there- 
fore, and we, both agree that Christ died to save men 
from the consequences of sin ; the only difference between 
us is, What is the necessity from which these consequences 
flow ? They say, it is the nature, the necessary nature of 
a moral being ; by virtue of which, sin must always be 
followed by suffering. We say, on the other hand, that 
it is the nature, the necessary nature, of a universe of 
moral beings, which makes a law, and therefore a penalty, 
necessary to its highest well-being.* 

Now, let the opponents of our doctrine tell us, if they 
can, why it is so monstrous that God should cause His in- 
nocent Son to suffer, in order to meet a necessity for man's 

* To say that the Divine law is the norm of a sanctified happiness, and there- 
fore cannot be repealed, as the law of the universe, in behalf of moral beings 
any where, is one thing, and what our author here asserts. To say that the re- 
demption of man was a crisis in the moral history of the universe, or was de- 
signed for special effect upon the universe, is quite another thing, which our 
author denied. In his notes on the Atonement, he says : "I must repudiate, as 
Dr. Bushnell does, the idea of Christ's atonement being designed for effect upon 
the subjects of God's government in other worlds; this being not a Scripture 
doctrine, but merely a philosophy of the atonement, and being contrary to all 
analogy in the knOwn relations of this world to others. I was never able 
heartily to believe this doctrine, even when I tried." See Dr. B.'s Christ in The- 
ology, pp. 286 — 288, See also Dr. Chalmers' respect accorded to the view that 
there may be various redemptive acts in different parts of the universe, in his 
Astronomical Discourses. — [Ed. 



DISCOURSES. 167 

salvation, growing out of the necessary nature of a moral 
universe ; while it is not at all monstrous, but very credible, 
reasonable, delightful, and gracious, that God should cause 
His innocent Son to suffer to meet such a necessity grow- 
ing out of the necessary nature of a moral being ! This is 
the difference between us, and the only difference ; and we 
challenge them to show a single good reason why their doc- 
trine is less shocking than ours ; even when we affirm, as 
we do, that Christ endured the stroke that was due to us 
and suffered in our stead. 

We have seen now that Christ teaches the forgiveness of 
sins, by faith in Him, and have vindicated this doctrine 
from the charge of being shocking or unreasonable. To 
have this faith in Him, as we have noticed also, is to act 
on the truth of this his doctrine. But I wish to inquire 
now, more particularly, what it is to act on the proposition 
thai God ivill pardon our sins for Christ s sake. And I reply 
simply, it is to ask God for Christ's sake to forgive our 
sins, and then to go forward in the Christian life, rejoicing, 
praising, and obeying, as though God had actually revealed 
to us individually that our sins are forgiven. 

In other words, the action in which this faith consists, 
is not so much outward as inward action. It is the de- 
cision to accept, and the act of asking pardon, solely on 
the ground of the atoning blood of Christ ; followed by a 
turning of the thoughts away from the threatened ven- 
geance of the law, to the promised mercy of God, and a 
determined reliance or resting of the mind thereupon ; a 
refusal any longer to apply the language of terror to one's 
self, and a committal of the soul to the hope set before it. 

Regenerating faith, that is, repentance from sin, must 
come first, indeed ; then by justifying faith, by taking God 



168 DISCOURSES. 

at His word, in his offer of mercy, the sinner is for- 
given. 

To preach the Gospel, then, to a sinner who has never 
heard of Christ, and whose heart is still bound in impeni- 
tence, we must tell him to " repent and believe in Christ," 
and he " shall be saved." If, however, we should find a 
repentant sinner, who had never heard of Christ, we need 
only tell him, " God so loved the world that He gave His 
only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life ! Wherefore, " believe 
in Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 

But such are not the circumstances in which we are 
called to preach the Gospel in this Christian land, And 
one cause of the difficulty of inquirers among us, and of 
those who would direct them, doubtless is, that this fact is 
not enough considered, and their true position, therefore, 
not understood ; so that a direction which would be intel- 
ligible and correct for a man just taught the doctrines of 
Christianity, is inapplicable and inefficient. 

One whose understanding has long been trained to assent 
to the doctrine of forgiveness, by the blood of Christ, but 
who is yet unreconciled to God, needs only to be exhorted 
to repent ; for it is here that his whole . difficulty generally 
lies. If such a man, however, has been brought to true 
repentance, he is ready to believe, if he can see what is 
meant by it ; and if he is in any difficulty in this matter, 
the proper mode of directing him, is simply to re-affirm to 
him the great doctrine, that if he is penitent, God is now ready 
to forgive him for Christ's sake, if he will ask forgiveness 
solely in His name ; — and to say not a word more. 

It should, perhaps, be remarked here, however, that bap- 
tism is generally understood by Christians to be a proper 



DISCOURSES. 169 

and needful expression of this justifying faith in Christ, 
and its consummating act. In accordance with this, is that 
language of Peter already quoted : " Repent and be bap- 
tized in the name of Christ, for the remission of sins." 

The great doctrine of " justification by faith in Christ," 
then, is simply this ; that we are forgiven for Christ's sake, 
and not for our own works; and in this way, therefore, 
we must seek forgiveness ; i. e. we must ask forgiveness in 
His name solely, and not seek to obtain it by observances 
of our own. 

Justification by the blcod of Christ, is a more distinctive 
and intelligible expression for this doctrine, than "justifi- 
cation by faith," and one equally scriptural. (See Rom. 
v. 9; Eph. i. 7; ii. 13; Col. i. 14; Heb. ix. 14; x. 19 ; 
1 John i. 7 ; Rev. i. 5 ; v. 9 ; xii. 11.) If it were more 
used in directing inquirers they would perhaps better un- 
derstand the directions. 

That this doctrine of justification by faith, or by the blood 
of Christ, does not exclude the necessity of repentance and 
holiness of heart to salvation, appears from the very texts 
by which the doctrine itself is taught ; for this, it will be 
remembered, was only God's part of the great work of pre- 
paring for the Kingdom of Heaven ; while man's part or 
the new birth, was first insisted on. And the same truth 
is taught in other passages. "Except ye repent ," says 
Christ, ye, likewise, shall all perish." (1 Forgive, and ye 
shall be forgiven." And " by works sl man is justified," says 
the Apostle James, " and not by faith only." These show 
that with justifying faith, obedience is also necessary to jus- 
tification. That is to say, justification is pardon for past sins, 
given to the penitent. It is not a substitute for present 
holiness. Obedience is always the only ground of accept- 



170 DISCOURSES. 

ance with God for the present ; but past sins repented of, 
i. e. forsaken, may be pardoned for Christ's sake. For 
Christ's sake, however, God will not accept the man who 
still says, I will not obey. Speaking in general terms, 
then, without the limitation of circumstances, justification 
is not by faith only. He who acts on the proposition that 
without repentance he can be saved for Christ's sake, acts 
upon a lie which Christ has never uttered. He may call his 
faith justifying faith, but it will never justify him. The 
professed Christian who lives a worldly and selfish life, 
thinking to be saved by his faith, is deluded. Christ never 
authorized him to believe in Him on such terms, and He 
will say to him at that day, " I never knew you. Depart 
from me, you that work iniquity." 

Is justification by faith only? Yes, to the penitent, I 
admit that it is. The true language of the Christian is, 
my only hope is in Christ. He alone is my justification. 
In speaking of the Christian, then, I would say, justifica- 
tion is by faith only. But not so with the impenitent — 
faith alone — Christ's blood alone, will not save him. Re- 
pentance and faith are necessary for his justification.* 

The difficulty of the moralist, so called, on the other 
hand, is not a false doctrine of justification, but the asser- 
tion of no need of justification. The doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith, however, attacks his system, because it im- 
plies the denial of his system ; and to prove it, therefore, 
a true doctrine, is to prove his system false. 

A few words now upon the peculiarity of influence of 
this faith. It humbles the soul before God, and increases the 
sense of his goodness. To receive the pardon of sin solely on 
the ground of what Christ has done, confessing one's own 

* See note at the end of this Discourse. 



DISCOURSES. 171 

utter inability to satisfy the claims of righteousness, knocks 
from under the soul as with one blow, all the props of 
pride and self-gratulation, and compels it to feel that it 
can boast no more. And by producing this humility in the 
soul, it lays the best and the only secure foundation, on 
which it can build up a truly elevated and perfect charac- 
ter. Christ Himself was " meek and lowly in heart ;" and 
without this, even He would not have been perfect. And 
no mere human being, who must begin from weakness and 
nothing, can ever build up a lovely and symmetrical char- 
acter, without first learning to be " lowly in heart." Much 
less can that depraved soul, in which pride seems the primal 
and foundation sin, ever be cleansed and elevated, without 
some means which shall continually check this continually 
swelling and outbursting fount of evil. 

But by increasing the sense of God's goodness also, this 
faith increases joy. It may, indeed, be urged by some, 
that it is just as gracious in the Almighty to give His Son 
to suffer in order to save men from the natural, as it is in 
order to save them from the 'penally imposed consequences 
of sin. And that it would be just as gracious, if God 
should so do, I readily admit. If, however, there are any 
other means which would answer the former end, this fact 
must lower our estimate of the greatness and preciousness 
of that gift which God gave us, even his Son Jesus Christ ; 
seeing, in such a case, this were the less costly way of re- 
deeming man. And that there are no other such means, 
—in other words, that it was necessary for Christ to die 
in order to bring men to repentance, can hardly be made 
to appear credible ; at least, to common minds. But that 
Christ alone could satisfy the claims of justice against the 
sinner, is a more appreciable doctrine ; and while it exalts 



172 DISCOURSES. 

the law of God, it does not lessen the preciousness of the 
sacrifice. And the greater this preciousness, the more it 
manifests the goodness of God. By this manifestation the 
heart of the believer is filled with joy and hope. He adores 
the unspeakable glory of the Divine compassion, and cries 
to all who have " obtained like precious faith," with him, 
" If God be for us, who can be against us ? He that spared 
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how 
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" 

Note. — We add here a few comments and other remarks, designed by 
the author for this discussion. See also Discourse IV., Note 1. — [Ed. 

The subject of faith has been mystified, and its relation to good 
works — the necessity of them — has been maintained on the ground 
that they prove faith. But it should rather be said that good works 
are faith, — i. e., real good works, acts of benevolence, done out of re- 
gard to Christ. 

We see now the consistency of Christ's declaration, Matt. vii. 24 : 
" He that heareth my words, and doeth them] 1 &c, with His doctrine of 
the necessity of faith. The Church, too, generally eschews and de- 
nies the first teaching, because of their interpretation of the latter. 
But surely the former is as decided and plain as the latter. But they 
are both true. 

Some will answer that no man doeth them (i. e n perfectly) , and so 
justification by faith is the only way left. That is, they will nullify 
those teachings of C hrist, making it out that they are only a repeti- 
tion of the law, to drive men to faith for justification. But this 
plainly is not Christ's design, for He says nothing of faith; and He 
adds, " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, 
shall be likened unto a foolish man that built his house upon the 
sand," — in which He evidently speaks to all who profess to be His 
disciples. 

We are then under the law as a rule of duty, but also under grace 
as a means of salvation. When Paul says, " We are not under the 
law, but under grace," he does not contradict this, for he is evidently 
affirming only that we are not under the law as a means of justifi- 
cation. 



DISCOURSES. 173 

Saving faith in Christ consists in so acting upon what Christ 
says as to be truly a good man — pious toward God and benevolent 
to men. 

" Acting" includes not merely outward acts, but inward aims and 
affections of the heart. 

It is not for us to say how far short a man may come in walking 
according to the purpose of his faith, and yet be saved — yet have 
faith enough to be fitted for the kingdom of Heaven in a sufferable 
degree, and so be accepted of God. 

There are cases, practically, which seem doubtful to us — not be- 
cause our principle or method of judging is not correct, but because 
we cannot satisfactorily apply it to the invisible soul of man in every 
case. But God can apply — and very many cases, perhaps most, we 
are able to judge. 

This makes plain the Saviour's declaration, " By their fruits ye 
shall know them." 

Bom. x. 13. : " For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 
shall be saved;" i, e n whoever penitently calls on Christ, or asks God 
for mercy in Christ's name. Penitence is implied because the whole 
tenor of God's commands requires it. To this another condition is 
customarily added by preachers, viz. : faith. But I do not add this ; 
— the text does not. I say, with the text, call on God and thou shalt 
be saved. Do I then renounce the necessity of faith? By no means. 
But whoever so regards Christ's words as to call penitently on God, 
has faith — so the context, " How shall they call on Him in whom they 
have not believed?" 

u That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish" &c, (John iii. 
16) . The faith required here is not faith necessarily in any particu- 
lar doctrine about the relation of Christ's work to the procurement 
of pardon, but faith in Christ Himself — " whosoever believeth in 
Him] 1 *. e., whosoever so believes in Him as to produce by His faith 
that moral change which is necessary. 

Now a perfect faith in Christ involves, I think, faith in His truth, 
faith in His atoning work, faith in His ability and willingness to 
save. But surely a perfect faith is no more essential to salvation 
than perfect love. Love is not perfected in all — neither is faith ; but 
if there is faith enough to work the necessary moral change, it must 
save. 



DISCOURSE XI, 



Faith in Christ — Sanctifying. 

John iv. 29 : Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the 
work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. 

Having in the application of our subject to faith in 
Christ discussed the nature of Regenerating, and of Justi- 
fying Faith, we now come to consider : — 

Third, Sanctifying faith. That there is such a faith, 
and what it is, will be seen, both at the same time, when 
we apply the principles already elicited in our past discus- 
sion, to a few well-known sayings of our Lord. 

It will first be remembered, however, that a true faith in 
Christ was shown to involve a renewal of the heart, — a 
radical change of character. But, in all that was said con- 
cerning that change, it was not asserted that the whole 
character is by it, at once made perfect in righteousness. 
It must, indeed, comprehend, evidently, a full acknowledg- 
ment of the claims of God to the perfect love and obedi- 
ence of His creatures, and a sincere and earnest settling of 
the heart thereto ; but when a man has done all this, do- 
ing it, as is generally the case, in an hour of reflection, 
and to the power of exalted motive, it does not, therefore, 
follow, that in the hour of busy occupation with the 
world, and when the power of temptation is let loose upon 
him, he will hold immovably to his righteous purposes, and 
never swerve at all from the line of perfect odedience. It 



DISCOURSES. 175 

does not follow, either as a law of mind, or as a fact of 
human experience. Steadfastness in virtue is a result 
only of effort many times renewed, and long continued ; a 
result, generally, of many falls and risings again to victory. 
The change of character, when a man, who has all his 
life been wholly devoted to his own selfish and worldly 
interests, turns round and solemnly consecrates all that he 
has, and himself also, to God, and the interests of humanity, 
is very great, and well worthy the name of a second birth ; 
even though he may sometimes falter for a moment from 
his new-formed purpose, and may need many repentings 
from unfaithfulness, and many struggles, and prayers, and 
tears, to make that change complete. And with a heart 
like that of man, — so easily deceived ; so fond of 
hearkening to what the Tempter saith, and so prone to 
obey his voice ; so long habituated too, in most cases, to 
sin, — with such a heart it has ever been, and, it would 
seem, will ever be the fact, that when this great beginning of 
a change has taken place, there is still need that it should 
go on ; there is still need of continued and renewed ac- 
tivity, ere it shall attain unto perfection. 

It is this continued process of renewal, — this growth in 
love and obedience to God, and this progressive subdual of 
evil tempers and desires, — this gradual bringing of the 
whole activities of the man into perfect conformity with 
that first and solemn purpose which belongs to the new 
birth, — it is this that is called, commonly, among the fol- 
lowers of Christ, Sanctification. And if there is any faith 
in Christ which operates in the human heart to this effect, 
which thus purifies the character from the remains of sin, 
redeems it from imperfection, and raises it more and more 
to the likeness of God, such may well be called a sancti- 
fying faith. 



176 DISCOURSES, 

That there is such a faith in Christ, and what it is, may 
now be seen, as we notice for a moment some of His teach- 
ings. 

In the first place, it is involved in and illustrated by 
those teachings already exhibited as requiring a change of 
character, or a new birth. Let us notice one or two of 
these. 

" Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord ! shall 
enter into the kingdom of Heaven," saith the Lord Jesus, 
" but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." 

Now if a man forms the purpose, to begin with, of liv- 
ing all his life in obedience to God, — and if it shall be 
found, as it will be, that in many things he falls short, — 
that his character does not at once prove wholly pure, — 
he will yet perceive, that if Christ's words are true, it is 
not enough that he make a profession and promise of obe- 
dience, that he say unto Christ, " Lord, Lord !" but that 
he shall actually carry out his profession into obedience ; 
that he shall, in every deed, u do the will of his Father which 
is in Heaven." 

Faith in Christ, then, or acting upon the truthfulness of 
His teachings, implies not only the profession and promise 
of obedience, but the actual carrying out of this promise 
in the life. To believe in Jesus, is not only to repent and 
be born again, but it is to endeavor every day to do the 
will of His heavenly Father. Yesterday to believe in 
Jesus, was yesterday to obey God and be determined by 
His grace, to obey Him to-day and to-morrow ; and to-day 
to believe in Jesus, is to-day to strive to obey God, and be 
determined to go on obeying, to-morrow and for ever. 

If Christ has taught that the perfect law of love to God 
and man is the law of true blessedness, then every sin is 



DISCOURSES. 177 

an act of practical unbelief in Christ. If He has taught 
that only he who "doeth" the will of God is saved, then 
only he who lives with the constant endeavor to do the 
will of God is a constant believer in Him, unless he is ono 
who chooses damnation. And such a believer is one who 
has all that apprehension of spiritual things, all those holy 
affections for God and man, all that regard for the Divine 
teachings, and all that fruit of the life '' unto righteousness," 
which we have seen to characterize the true servant of the 
Most High. 

And again, Christ says "Except ye repent, ye shall all 
perish." Unless a man chooses to perish, then, belief in 
Christ implies repentance. And repentance is not the for- 
saking of some sins, while others are continued in ; it is not 
the forsaking of sin to-clay and returning to it to-morrow : 
it is the endeavor to forsake all sin, — the endeavor made 
to-day, and every day continued. 

From all these truths, then, it does appear that a true 
faith in Christ involves the purifying of the soul, or that 
process which we have called sanctijication. 

But, in the next place, there is another truth involved in 
faith in Christ, which was not mentioned in discussing the 
subject of Regenerating Faith, though it might appro- 
priately enough liave been, and which we cannot pass over 
in silence here. 

" If any man taketh not up his cross," says the Lord 
Jesus, " and cometh after me, he cannot be my disciple." To 
have faith in Christ, then, it appears, involves the act of 
following Him ; of setting Him before the mind as our ex- 
ample, and endeavoring to walk in His footsteps, to pos- 
sess His spirit, and to be animated by His holy principles. 
And what like this can redeem a sinful heart from its cor- 

9 



178 DISCOURSES. 

ruption, and bring it back to purity and love ? What like 
this can sanctify the soul of man ? Who that endeavors 
every day to follow the spotless Jesus, will live insensible 
to sin, and quietly submissive to its power 1 No other in- 
fluence can be imagined, I fear not to say, so powerful to 
convince man of sin, and to exalt his apprehension of 
God's perfect law, so mighty to subdue the heart to a 
righteous humility, and encourage its efforts for obedience, 
as the example of Christ to one who endeavors to fol- 
low it. 

And it is not merely the power of a perfect example to 
enlighten the conscience and stimulate the heart, which is 
felt by him who looks to Christ as his leader, efficacious 
and inestimable as such an influence is to sanctify the soul ; 
he sees continually more and more, and as no other man 
can see, the " beauty of holiness " and the hatefulness of 
sin ; and thus learns to love the one and to loathe the 
other, not for what sin or holiness will bring to him, but 
for what they are in their own character, as related to a 
world of moral beings. Thus are awakened in his soul the 
purest and loftiest of all motives that can ever move an in- 
telligent spirit ; and thus the mightiest and most blessed 
agencies are put to work to cleanse and raise it up, till it 
shall shine with lustre borrowed from the face of God. To 
see Jesus Christ, in the midst of the grossest insensibility to 
His intellectual and moral greatness, His purity and love ; 
in the midst of ingratitude, bigotry and hate, answering 
His inconceivable compassion and goodness with scorn and 
unsparing cruelty ; to see Him enduring all without re- 
sentment, except where it touched the honor of His Father 
or the good of men ; — suffering narrow and malicious souls 
to exult over Him, to smite and spit upon Him ; and press- 



DISCOURSES. 179 

ing down the thunders of annihilating wrath that were 
throbbing to burst forth beneath His feet, while sorrow and 
pity blended their holiest light in His uplifted face; to see 
Him enduring and suffering all, yet loving still, yea, la- 
boring and praying still, and bleeding, too, for their salva- 
tion, — Oh! to see this, and to see it as will he who tries to 
follow Jesus, and knows how hard it is, — this it is to see the 
" beauty of holiness," the excellence of God's law of love, 
as mortal eye never saw it beside ! 

And to see, on the other hand, the true seeming of that 
ingratitude, those lying accusations, that presumptuous 
scorn, that rendering evil for good, that hate of all that is 
lovely, that meanness and cruelty and proud hypocrisy 
that burst, like a burning wave from the mouth of hell, 
upon the head of the meek and suffering Saviour, — to see 
this, is to see the hatefulness of sin, as earth, and methinks 
the regions of the damned, never displayed it before. 

And he who sees these things — who gazes upon them 
day by day, and finds them growing deeper in coloring and 
more wonderful continually, as the earnest copier of Christ 
will find them — he, surely, is the man, of all others, who 
will most be filled and made alive with a pure and purify- 
ing love of righteousness, and hatred of all iniquity. 

I repeat, then, a true faith in Christ, a sincere acting 
upon all His teachings, does sanctify the soul. There is, 
therefore, a sanctifying faith in Christ ; and that is not a 
complete faith in Him which does not sanctify. And it is 
folly and delusion, let me add, therefore, for any man who 
professes to be Christ's, to expect to be saved by faith in 
Him, if he is not becoming year by year a holier, a better 
man. For such a man is not a true believer. He may 
believe a part of Christ's teachings, but he does not believe 



180 DISCOURSES. 

them all. He does not fully and truly believe in Christ, 
the Son of God ; and to him, as much as to any other, is 
the warning uttered, " he that believeth not the Son, shall 
not see life, but the wrath of God abidoth on him." 

Let me point you now, for a moment, to one example 
of true faith in Christ. It is Paul of Tarsus. Gifted with 
exalted talents, and w r ith almost superhuman energy, and 
fitted by birth and education for gaining a high place 
among the honors of his country, behold him casting all 
at the foot of Jesus' cross ; renouncing worldly pleasure, 
and all splendor and ease of life ; enduring hardships and 
distresses innumerable, and toil beyond the seeming strength 
of man ; burning with a love unquenchable and pure, that 
led him to spend and be spent for others, and to rejoice 
therein, though the more abundantly he loved them the 
less he was loved ; watering with his prayers and tears 
the Church which Christ had watered with His blood; 
and giving himself wholly, without reserve, with an energy 
unparalleled, and a fervor that consumed the frame in 
which it dwelt, to the cause of God and righteousnes, and 
the salvation of souls. And what was the secret of a life 
so pure, so Christ-like in its aims and its activities, so un- 
changeably and ardently benevolent ? He has told us him- 
self. tc I am crucified with Christ," he says ; " and I live 
no longer, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now 
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
loved me and gave himself for me." 

Yes, it is faith in Christ, which is able to change the 
whole character of man, raise him up from the pit of cor- 
ruption into which he had fallen, cleanse his defiled gar- 
ments till the eye of Jehovah shall see no spot thereon, and 
place him on the mount of Transfiguration, from which, with 



DISCOURSES. 181 

the celestial gates in view, he shall run a shining course, 
with the world beneath his feet, and the wings of angels 
springing from his side. 

And now, to you, and to all the world, could my voice 
reach so far, would I sound aloud the great, the blessed 
truth of our text: believe in Christ — believe, and ye shall 
be saved. " This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him 
whom He hath sent" To believe in Him will regenerate the 
soul, will justify it before God, and cleanse it from all un- 
righteousness. It is this faith, faith in Christ, which is 
the great redemption of the human character. Nothing 
like it beside was ever seen, to remold, to purify and ele- 
vate the mind of man. We defy the world to point to any 
other such source — any "other name under Heaven, given 
among men, whereby we can be saved/' This is the great 
truth declared in the text. This is, indeed, the work of God — 
the work by which you may become acceptable to God, 
and be made like Him — that you " believe on Him whom 
He hath sent." This is the message of heavenly mercy 
to a ruined race, to a dead and dying world : Believe in 
Him whom God hath sent. Trust not to your own un- 
aided powers ; thousands have trusted and perished. Trust 
not in any fellow-man ; man has every where trusted in 
man, and the world is not yet saved. None of the refuges 
which men have sought out for themselves have sheltered 
them ; none of the devices which they have invented for 
themselves have delivered them. The world has tried long, 
it has trusted in every thing but Christ, and it is yet far 
from salvation. 

But they that have believed in Jesus have been saved. 
They have been saved from corruption, from the power of 
indwelling sin ; they have felt that they were saved from 



182 DISCOURSES. 

death, from the powers of evil, and from the wrath to come ; 
and the world, that has looked on, has never doubted. And 
the voice of Jesus is yet sounding aloud to all that need, 
" come unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth." 
" This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom 
He hath sent." Hear it, dying sinner ! Hear it, guilty 
and perishing soul ! Hear it, child of sorrow and despair ! 
There is yet redemption, there is yet peace and full salvation 
for you. You can yet save yourself and others. You 
can yet work the works of God, the work by which He 
will forgive you, and you shall be made like Him. Hear, 
and despise it not, lest your last hope be lost, and an escape- 
less perdition seize on your soul. Ruin, eternal ruin, will 
be yours if you heed it not. It is the last accent of mercy, 
— but the sweetest. It is the last anchor of hope, — but 
the surest — "This is the work of God, that you believe on Him 
whom He hath sent" 



DISCOURSE XII. 



The Repose of Faith.* 
Mark v. 36 : " Only believe." 

From the country of the G-adarenes, where He had cast 
out the devil into the herd of swine, Jesus had now re- 
turned across the sea of Galilee to Capernaum, which lay 
on its northwestern shore, and which was at this time, and 
during, seemingly, the whole of His ministry, the place of 
His residence. 

While sitting at a great feast in the house of Matthew, 
surrounded by publicans and sinners, there came one of the 
rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and fell at His feet 
beseeching Him for his little daughter, who lay at the point 
of death. As Jesus went with him, followed and thronged 
by a great multitude, there came messengers from the 
ruler's house, who said to him " thy daughter is dead ; why 
troublest thou the Master any further f" 

The heart of Jairus at this news, no doubt, sank within 
him. He had seen, probably, and had heard of many mira- 
cles which Christ had done, by which the sick had been 
restored to health, and the crippled to soundness of limb, 
and those who had been possessed of devils brought back 



* This Discourse was delivered, Elgin, March. 27, 1853 ; " given me," says Mr-S., 
" in prayer the day previous, with great comfort." It was, of course, no part of 
his original plan in discussing the nature of faith ; but we insert it, with the 
above title, that it may give to others like comfort, and because, by the law of 
all life and health, the highest work consists with the truest repose. 



184 DISCOURSES 

to reason ; but the dead ! — that they should be recovered 
from decay, and brought back to life, was a thing unheard 
of and beyond hope. Who does not despair, when death 
has once taken the spirit away ? All the dread certainty 
of its power, and the hopelessness of release which the his- 
tory of the world had taught him, now came upon the 
ruler's heart, and caused it to respond with despairing as- 
sent to the words of his messengers, " Why troublest thou 
the Master !" 

And yet, seemingly, as he turned to look again upon 
Jesus, some relieving thoughts arose. " He who has done 
such mighty works among us — has He not power even yet 
to help me ?" and then began some feeble hope to struggle 
with strong fears, and agitate his soul. 

Then it was Jesus came to his help, rewarding the faith 
with which he had at first approached Him. Amid the 
agitation of his soul, the Master spake, as once after He 
spake to the waters of that sea that then rolled in their 
sight : " Be not afraid," He said ; u only believe." 

Oh, that we could hear, my friends, amid the doubts and 
fears that struggle with our feeble hopes, as we travel our 
brief pilgrimage to the grave — Oh, that we could hear the 
Master's voice saying to us with energizing power, "Be 
not afraid ! only believe !" This is, indeed, a voice which 
Christ has spoken to us, with all the sweetness of His life, 
and all the solemnities of His death. That we should be- 
lieve in Him, and so in the Father who sent Him. He has 
reasoned with us by the most moving arguments, and the 
most solemn appeals — the arguments of all His kind and 
wondrous deeds and words, and His whole life of love, 
and the appeals of His springing tears, and His outburst- 
ing blood which, was shed " for us." 



DISCOURSES. 185 

I would, therefore, to-day, present to your thoughts, as 
well as to my own, amid our many sorrows and tribula- 
tions, the cheering and glad words of Christ : " onia be- 
lieve. " The great lack, my friends, of all those who are 
trying to live righteously and godly " in this present evil 
world,' ' is faith — faith in God, and in His Son Christ. 

The great reason why, if we are the children of God, we 
are so feeble in our obedience and love ; the reason why 
we enjoy so little the power of religion in our hearts ; the 
reason why we are so easily turned aside by temptations, 
weighed down by care, and broken by the sorrows which 
assail us ; the reason why we mourn so much, and rejoice 
so little, and run so slowly in the Christians race, is, 
that we have not faith. If we did but yield ourselves up 
to a hearty belief of the goodness and power of God, of 
His all-directing Providence and His merciful and gracious 
designs toward us, we could not be so disturbed, as we 
too often are, by the sorrows and troubles of this life, If 
we did heartily admit at all times all that Christ has taught 
us by His lips, and all that love and care of God which 
His life displays and proves, and if we abandoned ourselves 
to Him with the surrender of a perfect faith, we should 
never fail of peace and strength and joy. And if by such 
a faith we did but bring down into our hearts " the powers 
of the world to come," our lives in this world would be a 
brighter display of the value and glory of the Gospel, and 
would tell with a mightier effect upon the kingdom of 
darkness and death. How morally beautiful and sublime 
was the life of the Apostle Paul ! A life of indefatigable 
energy and unceasing toil in doing good ; a life of entire 
self-denial, as regards all worldly ends ; a life of disinter- 
ested goodness, " spending and being spent" for others, 



186 DISCOURSES. 

though the more abundantly he loved them, the less he 
was loved ; a*life of great endurance of sufferings, both 
natural and by men inflicted ; a life of moral splendor and 
transcendent power, telling with immeasurable effect upon 
the destiny of men and nations, and laying through many 
lands the broad foundations of that mighty temple, which 
is rising, and yet to rise, till the top-stone shall be laid in 
heavenly glory, amid the sound of many voices hymning 
the praises of redeeming love. And what was the secret 
of that transcendent life ?■ It was not inspiration — it was 
not miraculous power. No, it was simple Christian faith ; 
a faith working by love ; and such as any man may ex- 
ercise who will. The Apostle has himself taught us the 
whole truth concerning it. " The life whieh I now live," 
says he, "I live by faith of the Son of God," L e. by faith 
in the Son of God, " who loved me and gave Himself for 
me." 

Yes, the life of Paul was a life founded on a true and 
hearty faith in the Son of God, and such a life, in its grand 
essentials, as such a faith must ever produce. 

And with respect to the power of a true faith to an- 
imate the soul to great deeds, and to sustain it amid great 
conflicts, in the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
" What shall I more say? For the time would fail me," 
going back to the history of the ancient Church, " to tell of 
Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae, 
of David also, and Samuel, and the prophets ; who through 
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained 
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence 
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness 
were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight 
the armies of the aliens." Nor has the Church, 



DISCOURSES. 187 

since Apostolic days, been wanting in examples of equal 
courage, and endurance, and moral power, produced by 
this same principle. It was faith in God that sustained 
Luther, *as he trod his dangerous way to the city of Worms, 
and as he stood there before that august council of kings, 
princes, and prelates, that had summoned him to trial, and 
proclaimed in their hostile ears his invincible determina- 
tion to hold fast the truth of God.* It was faith in 
God that animated and upheld the illustrious company of 
martyrs, who, in the the days of the Eighth Henry, and 
of Mary, nurtured the soil of England with their blood and 
ashes. It is faith in God, which in later times has nerved the 
converts of heathen Madagascar to suffer death rather than 
deny their Lord ; and which, even while I am now speak- 
ing, sustains the soul of that naturally feeble woman, who, 
in a prison of Tuscany, bids defiance to all the powers of 
Romish cruelty and superstition, to turn her from the 
truth. 

And if faith can work these great results, can it not se- 
cure those which are less 1 Can it not sustain us in our 
inferior trials, and nerve us to our less difficult tasks ? 
What more, in fact, is wanting to the vigor of our spiritual 
life, and to the constancy of our peace and joy, than that 
we should believe truly in God ? 
. It is undoubtedly true that all of us who love Christ 

* Luther's illustration of unbelief will here recur to the minds of many : ** I 
lately saw two miracles. First, as I looked out at the window, I saw the stars in 
the heavens, and the whole fair dome of God ; yet did I see no pillars on which 
the Master had placed this dome. Nevertheless, the heavens fell not, and the 
dome stands yet fast. Now there are some that seek for such pillars. They 
would fain lay hold of and feel them. And because they can not do this, they 
struggle and tremble as though the heaven must certainly fall, for no other rea- 
son than because they cannot seize or see the pillars ; could they lay hold of 
these, the heaven would stand firm." 



188 DISCOURSES. 

have difficulties to meet, and trials to bear. Though we 
are not martyrs by fire, and at the cost of life, we may 
sometimes be called to be martyrs by reproach, and at the 
cost of friends we love, and objects we hold dear ; we have 
enemies within, which are worse than those without, in 
our own corrupt propensities, such as are hard to over- 
come ; we have weariness of the flesh to endure, and clog- 
ging and feebleness of spirit ; we have wounded affections, 
and disappointed hopes to bear ; we have corrupt examples 
to strive against, and superstitious and wicked prejudices in 
ourselves and others, to contend with ; we have error to 
ccmbat, and truth to maintain ; and even among those we 
love — aye, and in our own hearts, also, we have failures to 
endure, it may be, and reproach and suspicion to suffer un- 
justly ; we have griefs for souls that are in sin, for the 
wrongs and woes of many, and for the cause we love ; we 
have anxieties and cares, vexations, disturbances, and sor- 
rows without name or number, to meet and to sustain ; for 
"man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." 

But God has set before us the end of all our griefs, a 
bright and happy home ; where having once entered, we 
shall " go no more out." He has made that home a place 
fit for His own indwelling ; and therefore full of glory and 
of joy. For " behold ! the tabernacle of God shall be with 
men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His 
people, and God Himself with them shall be their God. 
And He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former things 
are passed away." Oh, it is a city that hath " no need of 
the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory 
of God hath illumined it, and the Lamb is the light 



DISCOURSES. 189 

thereof." But not only has God set before us such an eter- 
nal home ; He has also taught us that while we tarry in 
this preparatory state, He is full of compassion for us, and 
looks down on us with unchanging love. Yes, even when 
you have wandered, Christian, far from Him, and are 
thoughtless of His goodness, and careless of His will, He 
does not cease to love, but watches over you by night and 
surrounds you with His mercies by day, and strives to win 
you back. Yea, even then, when you care not for Him, 
He has designs of unspeakable goodness for you, and is pre- 
paring a shining mansion to which he means to win you, if 
His grace can do it. And every step you take in this world 
He watches over, and if you are trying to be faithful, He 
causes it to bring you nearer home. Every wind of trou- 
ble and every storm of sorrow that beats upon , you, He 
holds in His hand, and suffers it not to rage to your harm, 
but rather makes it a means of greater gain at last, if you 
love Him. He pities all your griefs, as a father pitieth his 
children ; He cares for all your interests, and concerns 
Plimself continually in your behalf; He combines His cre- 
ative and providential goodness with the riches of His grace, 
to bless you ; He denies you nothing that will be for your 
good. Nay ! not even the Son of His love. This is the 
love of God to you and me, Christian. All our interests 
are safer in His hands than they could be in our own, for 
He is hindered by no lack of wisdom, and perverted by no 
selfishness, and changed by no fickleness, and fettered by 
no lack of power. Wisdom, that discerneth all things, from 
the beginning to the end ; might, that can accomplish all 
His will ; understanding, that can devise most glorious 
things with which to bless His creatures ; benevolent good- 
ness, that has no bounds towards us but our capacity to re- 



190 DISCOURSES. 

ceive, — these are the qualities of God our Father, and the 
pledges of our safety aud our unmeasurable blessedness. 
It is not merely what God can do, of which He assures us, 
but that He means to do and will do for us more than we 
can ask or think. 

What, then, I ask, is wanting to our comfort and hap- 
piness in this world, but that we should believe i What 
else is wanting that we should have quietness under every 
pelting storm, hope beneath every cloud, and rapture on 
every wave of life's tossing sea — what else, but that we 
should open our hearts to the love of God, and put our 
confidence in Him ? 

How great a proof of His concern for us, and His desire 
to do us good, has He given us in Christ His Son ! It is 
a proof higher than we could have imagined to ask, and 
the greatest, it would seem, that Infinite Wisdom could de- 
vise. And now in all our trials He says to us, " only be- 
lieve." When we are troubled with doubts and oppressed 
with fears, He bids us " only believe." When sorrows as- 
sail us and pains afflict, He exhorts us, " only believe." 
When the burden of cares presses heavily, and we are 
anxious for the morrow, His word repeats, " only believe.' 
When friends are taken from our sight, or when they turn 
to foes, He instructs us, saying, " only believe." When 
sounds of threatening are borne upon our ears, His still 
small voice is saying, above the din, " only believe." When 
we walk the thorny path of obscurity and want, he utters 
above our heads His blest encouragement, " only believe." 
When dangers beset our way and we tremble with fear, 
He puts into our hands His talisman of peace, " only be- 
lieve." When difficulties oppose us and we weary of our 
toil, He gently commands us, " only believe." When fond 



DISCOURSES. 191 

hopes are extinguished, and night and darkness settle down 
around us, He writes upon the heavens with stars, "only 
believe." When griefs are many and friends are few ; when 
our life-plans are crossed, and our toils are brought to 
naught, and our fainting hearts are ready to sink, God 
lives, and whispers still, " only believe." " Only believe," 
and you shall have quietness of soul, and sorrow shall not 
harm you, nor pains destroy. u Only believe," and you 
shall cast your cares on Me, and take no thought for the 
morrow. " Only believe," for I am your Saviour and your 
everlasting friend, and no evil shall have power to harm 
you. u Only believe," and Mine eye shall be upon you, 
and I will bring you into glory. " Only believe," and 
though "a thousand fall at thy side, and ten thousand at 
thy right hand, it shall not come nigh thee." " Only be- 
lieve," and you shall come off conquerors through Him 
who hath loved you. " Only believe," and you shall ascend 
where hope is lost in fruition, and there is no more night, 
and where sorrow and sighing are done away. Let the 
world assail you — " only believe." Let hopes disappoint 
you — " only believe." Let friends depart from you — 
" only believe." Let cares press upon you — " only be- 
lieve." Let sorrows smite you — "only believe." "Only 
believe," and your walk upon earth shall be in peace, and 
in increasing strength and gladness, and its end shall be 
eternal glory and immeasurable bliss. Believe in the 
mercy and goodness of God through Christ, and in His 
providential care. 

And this, my friends, is the grand medicine of life. 
When men are sick, how they will resort to this remedy 
and to that, to heal them of their ailing. And so in the 
soul's sickness and cravings, how they will run to one 



192 DISCOURSES. 

thing and another, to satisfy their longings, and make them 
blest. Yea, how they run and search on every side in vain, 
and pass by the simple and all-potent prescription which 
God has provided for every human sorrow and want — the 
simple remedy, " only believe." 

And how wicked not to believe, my friends ! It is refus- 
ing to admit the goodness of our God ! And how happy it 
is really to believe ! "He that believeth, shall not make 
haste." He can fulfill the exhortation of the Apostle who 
says, " Let your conversation (or conduct) be without cov- 
etousness, and be content with such things as ye have ; for 
He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So 
that we may both say, the Lord is my helper, and I will 
not fear what man can do unto me." 

Oh, my hearer ! if you would be peaceful in life, and 
happy in death, " only believe." 



DISCOURSE XIII. 



Repentance. 

Acts xx. 21: "Testifying both to the Jews and also to the 
Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord 
Jesus Christ" 

This was what Paul declared to the Ephesian elders 
he had done during the two years he had remained at 
Ephesus. 

During the same period of time, while laboring in this 
place, I have endeavored, in my humble measure, to .testify 
to this congregation the same great truths. 

And not only have I urged the duty of repen^ncfe'and 
faith, but I have endeavored to explain fully the nature of 
faith, so that none might be left in doubt as to what he is 
required to do when commanded to believe. The same 
thing it was in my mind to do concerning repentance — to 
explain fully its nature — that concerning this duty, also, all 
might be fully informed, and the way of salvation made 
plain beyond mistake. 

And though prevented by circumstances from that full dis- 
cussion of this subject which I would desire to give it, I am 
happy that in the compass at least of one discourse I can, 
in some measure, present it, and in such a manner, perhaps, 
that it may be understood, though the exhibition must be 
comparatively meagre. 

It is not because the true meaning of this word is not, 



194 DISCOURSES. 

in some degree, generally understood, that I think it need- 
ful to discuss it ; but because there are some errors con- 
nected with it in the minds of many, which sometimes hin- 
der their obedience to the command, or afford them some 
pretext to put it off ; and which lead them, also, to defer 
it to a time in which there is no repentance. 

In discussing this subject, we must first endeavor to as- 
certain the meaning of the word. For this we must go to 
the original language in which the New Testament was 
written. 

There are two words in the Greek Testament, both of 
which are translated repent in our version. This verb, in 
some of its forms, and the noun repentance, occur sixty- 
three times in the New Testament. I have examined every 
instance of its use, and find that in fifty-six places it is given 
as the translation of the Greek word fieravoeo) ; and in 
seven places it is given as a translation of the Greek word 
\iETa\LzXo\Lai ; — and these are all the instances of the use 
of either of these words in the whole New Testament. 

The word which Paul uses in the text, and which is 
used in every exhortation to repentance which is found in 
the New Testament, is [leravoeo). 

Merd denotes change ; vosg) is made from voog, which 
signifies (1st) thought or purpose, (2d) that which thinks or 
determines, L e., the mind, 

Meravoeo), then, signifies to change the thought or pur- 
pose in the heart ; or, to change the mind ; both of which 
evidently mean the same thing. 

To repent of a thing, then, is, according to the real 
meaning of the word, to change the mind or purpose con- 
cerning it. 

But again, from the very nature of the case, this change 



DISCOURSES. 195 

of purpose must refer to the future ; for a man cannot 
change his purpose, ivith reference to the past, concerning 
anything, but only with reference to the future. In other 
words, a purpose always refers to time after the present, 
and not to time past.* 

JRepentance for sin, therefore, is a change of mind con- 
cerning it for time to come ; in other words, it is a solemn 
purpose to forsake sin from this time forth. And since sin 
consists in disobedience to God, repentance is the determi- 
nation henceforth not to disobey God, but to obey Him. 

If this interpretation be correct, then, true Scriptural re- 
pentance is quite a distinct thing from grief or distress of 
mind felt in view of past sin, though, as will hereafter be 
noticed, somewhat of this grief ought to and must go with 
it. And this interpretation which I have given (and I am 
not alone in this) is confirmed by the fact that the Scrip- 
tures very plainly distinguish between repentance and such 
a feeling of grief, as I will now show. 

Turn to 2 Corinthians, vii. 9, and if fierdvoia, the word 
translated repentance, be supposed to mean sorrow or re- 
gret, we have this absurdity, that the Apostle rejoices that 
they were u made sorry unto sorrow," or regret. And the 
same in the next verse — " godly sorrow worketh sorrow." 

But if it be replied that repentance here is used for re- 

* It is lamentable that what is meant to designate a purpose or principle 
should be so generally understood in our day to denote merely or principally a 
feeling, as a purpose always refers to something future. It is implied in a 
u change of purpose " that there is room for it; i. e., that that in reference to 
which the purpose is changed runs on into the future. Strictly, then, a past act 
cannot be repented of in itself. It may be repented of in reference to future 
repetition or amends, if repetition or amends are possible in the future. If they 
are not possible in the future, the act cannot be repented of at all — there can be 
no "change of purpose" 1 in reference to it. In accordance with this, see Heb . 
xii. 17 : *' He found no place of repentance" — he found no room to u turn from " 
that which he had done. 



196 DISCOURSES. 

pentance for sin, and means, therefore, sorrow for sin, I 
answer, and so does " godly sorrow " certainly mean " sor- 
row for sin " (which cannot be disputed) ; and so we have 
the Apostle saying that " godly sorrow for sin worketh 
sorrow for sin." 

But now, change the word repent for that which 1 have 
interpreted it to mean, and the sense is clear and appro- 
priate. 

It is certain, then, from Scripture, that sorrow or regret 
for sin already committed is quite a distinct thing from re- 
pentance. 

I wish now to notice the other word, occurring seven 
times in the New Testament, and translated (improperly) 
repent, or repentance. 

This word properly means (as any Greek dictionary will 
tell you) to feel grief or regret. It occurs three times in 
the passage just brought before us (2 Cor. vii. 8-10). I 
will give it its proper translation, and express, also, the 
idea of repentance more fully, and you will see the clear- 
ness and propriety of the sense : 

" For though I grieved (eXvirrjaa) you by the letter, I do not regret 
it (ixeraixeXoixai) though I did regret; for I perceive that letter did 
grieve you, though but for a season. I now rejoice, not because you 
were grieved, but because you were grieved to a change of your pur- 
pose (jx£Tdvoiav) ; for ye were grieved after a godly manner, that ye 
might receive damage by us in nothing. For sorrow toward God 
worketh change of purpose unto salvation, not to be regretted 
(dn€T<njLi\T]Toi>) ; but the sorrow of this world worketh death/ ? ^ 

Now the fact that the Apostle is so careful to use 
\iEra\iiXo\iai (to regret) in the eighth verse, and fierdvoia 

* The author's translation was not written out, and the above is by the Editor. 
It is supported in the main by Bloomfield, who renders the principal phrase 
thus : " That ye were [so] pained as to be brought to repentance and refcrma- 



DISCOURSES. 197 

(change of mind) in the ninth, in their peculiar connection, 
shows this difference of meaning ; for, to suppose the}' both 
mean the same thing, either regret or change of mind ; or, 
to suppose their meanings interchanged, is to make non- 
sense of the three verses. 

Another place where fierafieXofjiat (to feel regret or sor- 
row) is used, is in Matt, xxvii. 3. If fieravoeo) had been 
used here it would have proved our interpretation false — 
for Judas could not at this time have changed his purpose. 
The deed was done, and could not be undone, and there was 
no possibility now of changing or making any purpose with 
regard to doing it. But the writer does not use this word. 
And the fact that he does not, confirms the idea of its hav- 
ing a different meaning from the one used ; especially, 
seeing it is a word much more frequently employed in the 
New Testament (fifty-six times to seven — eight times as 
often), and would, therefore, have been likely to have been 
used here, had the writer understood it to mean the same 
thing. 

It is worthy of remark, that though Judas seems sin- 
cerely to have regretted this act of sin, the betrayal of his 
Master, yet he did not truly repent of sin — " he went and 
hanged himself." 

The three other places where \iEra\iiXo\iai is used, are 
Matt. xxi. 29 and 32, and Eom. xi. 29. In all these its 
proper translation is plainly to regret or feel sorrow for. 

tion" — and says : " Merdvoia here signifies such a change of mind as produces 
reformation in conduct " He cites also Jeremy Taylor, and the following fine 
passage from Hierocles, in his Aur. Carm. : 

f H St fiEravoia avrrj <pi\o(TO(piag apx^i yivzrai Kai t&v dvofjTWv t p y oj v tC 
Kai \6ywv v y fj , kcu Kai rr\g d[x£ra^d\rjTOv %airjs fj itpdrr] ttapaaX^r\> 

On the phrase Kara Qeov ~Xvnr] he cites Rosenmiiller: "arising from causes out 
of which He would have it rise, and producing effects such as He would ap- 
prove." With this we might well compare the view of faith as a M work of God," 
presented in the discourses on that subject, 



198 DISCOURSES. 

Another passage which confirms our translation of 
fieravoeco, as meaning to change the mind, is found in He- 
brews xii. 17. (Read it.) To suppose that to repent 
means to feel sorrow, makes nonsense of this verse. 

" When he [Esau] would have inherited the blessing, he 
was rejected ; for he found no place of sorrow, though he 
sought it carefully with tears.' 9 

But to interpret the word " repent " to mean " change 
of mind," (as is done in the margin of your reference Bi- 
bles), and the sense is good and appropriate. Esau found 
no place or opportunity to change his mind in reference to 
the foolish bargaining away his birthright* It was a deed 
already done, and God never offered him the privilege of 
recalling the past, and deciding again whether he would do 
it or not. A change of mind always refers to time to come ; 
but time to come had nothing to do with this decision, ex- 
cept to bring its consequences. There was, then, no place 
for a change of mind, no place for repentance, though he 
sought it carefully with tears. G-od would not recall the 
past, and give him an opportunity to decide again. 

Once more I add : every time the word properly signify- 
ing " repent " is used in the whole New Testament (and it 
is used fifty-six times), to translate it " change of mind or 
purpose " makes good and appropriate sense of the passage 
in which it occurs — while to translate it "regret," or 
"feel sorrow," makes absurdity in many instances, as 
pointed out. 

/ consider it, then, as proved, that the word " repent " signi- 
fies, simply to change the mind or purpose, and not, to feel sorrow, 
or regret, or distress* 

* Chalmers, in an essay to which Mr. S. refers, and which is published, we think, 
as a tract, by the Am. T. Society, takes the same view of the nature of repent- 
ance. Whately remarks : " There are two words in Greek, both of which we 



DISCOURSES. 199 

But this is not all the proof that Scriptural repentance 
consists in a change of mind or purpose, and not in a feel- 
ing of sorrow. Thus far we have depended on the word 
used for our proof. But there is abundant proof, not de- 
pending at all on the signification of the word " repent," 
but derived from other pass ges of Scripture, where the 
same duty is commanded in different language, or where the 
character of man is so described as to involve this conse- 
quence. 

Of the former kind are all those passages, and they are 
numerous, which command men to turn from their idols, or 
from following after vanity, and to serve the living God. 
This is plainly the same command as the command to re- 
pent. To turn from the world to God is, surely, to repent 
of sin — and to repent of sin certainly is to turn unto God. 
But to turn from following idols unto the service of God, 
is nothing else than to resolve, from this time forth, not to 
seek the world as the great object of pursuit, but to live in 
obedience to God. This is, surely, a change of mind, or 
purpose, with regard to the great object for which a man 
will live Repentance, then, is a change of mind. 

Again, we are told in the Book of Proverbs, " whoso 
confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy." But 
will any man have mercy that does not repent % Surely 
not. Then to confess and forsake sin is to repent. But 
confessing and forsaking sin do not consist in feeling grief 
or distress about it, but in changing the mind or purpose 
with reference to it ; i. c., in taking up the solemn resolu- 

translate 'repentance;' one signifying merely 'regret for the past,' the other 
properly, a ' change of disposition.' It is to this last alone that the promises of 
Scripture are made, — to Metanoia, not MetameleiaP — "Scrip. Rev. of a Fut. 
State," ch. xi. 



200 DISCOURSES. 

tion or intention henceforth to obey God. Repentance, then, 
is changing the mind. 

Again, we are told in the same part of the Scriptures, 
that " as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," i. e., as he 
meaneth, or intendeth, or purposeth.* This, as I have be- 
fore observed, applies both to individual, separate actions, 
and to the whole life. 

The sinner, then, is one whose great intent or purpose of 
heart is to strive after selfish worldly good — while the godly 
man, or the Christian, is one whose great ruling intent is 
to serve God, that he may secure the salvation of his soul. 

The difference between these two, then, is in the great 
ruling intent or purpose with which they live. And for 
the sinner, therefore, to forsake his sins and turn to God, 
is, to change the great ruling intent of his heart — i. e., it is 
to change his mind or purpose. But, forsaking sin and 
turning to God, is repenting. Repentance, then, is a change 
of mind or purpose. 

Another proof of the truth of this doctrine is found in 
the command of God to Israel by the prophet Ezekiel: 
"Cast away your transgressions, and make you a new heart 
and a neiu spirit." This command has reference, plainly, to 
the change which takes place in a man when he repents. 
This change is here designated by the term " make you a 
new heart and a new spirit." Asking you to remember this, 
I proceed to show that the word ''heart" in Scripture is 
equivalent to the word mind with us ; a word, in its broader 
sense, embracing all the faculties of the soul, but used 
often to denote the understanding, and often, also, to denote 
the state of the will and affections. 

* Prov. xxiii. 7. This passage is often misquoted — "As a man thinketh, so is 
he,"— in support of the notion that opinions in religious matters decide a man's 
character and destiny. — [Ed. 



DISCOURSES. 201 

We are accustomed to refer the mind to the brain as its 
seat ; but the Jews were accustomed to refer it to the cen- 
tral organ of the body, the heart. This was probably be- 
cause strong emotion, of which simple, uncultivated people 
are wont to take most notice, does so affect the action of 
the heart as to give occasion to suppose that the emotion is 
seated there. For this reason we are accustomed to desig- 
nate the affections of the soul by this term, heart ; but the 
Jews, not being accustomed to distinguish so metaphysically 
between the feelings and the thoughts or purposes of the 
mind, located the whole mind there, and spoke of all the 
faculties of the soul under this term.* 

* Proof of this is found in the language of Scripture. 1st, Heart, in the sense 
of understanding. Job xii. 3 : "I have understanding as well as you " — (correct 
rendering: see context) . But the Hebrew ward here rendered "understanding, 
is heart. Heart, then, here, is the same as mind, used to denote understanding. 

Deut. xxix. 4: " Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive," &c. ; 
i. e., a mind or understanding to perceive. 

1 Kings iii. 12 : "I have given thee (Solomon) a wise and an understanding 
heart;" i. e. } a wise and understanding mind, or, an acute and large under- 
standing. 

1 Kings iv. 29 : "And God gave Solomon largeness of heart, even as the sand 
that is on the sea shore " — evidently, largeness of mind or understanding. 

Job xxxiv. 10 : " Hearken unto me, ye men of understanding : Tar be it from 
G-od that he should do wickedness." — Hebrew, "men of heart.''' In the thirty- 
fourth verse the same expression occurs : "Let men of heart tell me ;" i. e., men 
of mind or understanding. 

Hoseavii. 11: "Ephraim is like a silly dove, without heart;" i.e., without 
mind or understanding. 

Many more instances might be given, but these must suffice, with one ot two 
from the New Testament. 

Matt. xiii. 15 : " This people's heart is waxed gross, . . . lest they should un- 
derstand with their heart, and should be converted and I should heal them ;" i. $., 
their mind has become stupid, so that they do not understand with their mind. 

Luke xxiv. 25 : "0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophetf 
have spoken ;" i. e., slow of mind to perceive — slow of understanding. This dull- 
ness of understanding was caused by their proud and selfish prejudices, and was 
therefore a fit ground of reproach. 

2d. Heart, in the sense of the will and affections, (just as we use the word mind) . 

Deut. v. 29 : "0 that there were such an heart in them (i. e., such a state of 

10 



202 DISCOURSES. 

What, then, is meant by the command, " make you a 
new heart,' ' or mind ? It is to make a new purpose — in 
other words, it is to change the mind — in other words still, 
it is to change the ruling purpose of the soul. This is corrob- 
orated by what follows in the words of this command — 
" make you a new heart and a new spirit ;" i. e., change 
the great purpose of your soul, and the spring of action 
which animates you. 

the will and affections) that they would fear me, and keep my commandments 
always, that it might be well with them and with their children for ever." The 
employment of the word mind here would be perfectly accordant with our very 
common use of it — "Oh that there were such a mind in them," &c. The He- 
brew word " heart," therefore, in this passage, is exactly equivalent to our word 
u mind," used here to denote the state of the will and affections, or the ruling pur- 
pose of the mind and the affections which go with it. Instances of this sort in 
the Scriptures are too common to need citation : but I will quote a few. 

1 Kings, viii. 17, 18 : " It was in the heart of David my father to build a house 
for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And the Lord said unto David my 
father, whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst 
well that it was in thine heart." In all these instances we may substitute the 
word mind, to denote chiefly the will, or that power of the mind which purposes 
or resolves. 

Jer. v. 23: "This people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart;" i. e., mind 
or will. 

Acts xi. 23 : Barnabas " exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they 
would cleave unto the Lord ;" i. e., with purpose of mind, or with a firm pur- 
pose. 

3d. u Heart " is used, as we use the word " mind? to denote, 'principally, the af- 
fections or emotions of the mind. 

Deut. xxviii. 47 : " Thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and 
with gladness of heart." 

Psalms cv. 3: " Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." 

Psalms lxxiii. 7 : " They have more than heart could wish." 

Prov. xiii. 12: "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." 

Prov. xiv. 10: " The heart knoweth its own bitterness." 

Prov. xv. 13 : "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance." 

Here, and in a great many other passages, the word heart is used to denote the 
emotive faculties of the soul. The word "mind," in our language, would be ap- 
propriately used in all these instances. It is very common, however, with us, to 
use the word " heart " when the emotive faculties are designated ; more so, in- 
deed, than to employ the other word "mind." Yet this word may always b© 
used in such cases with correctness. 



DISCOURSES. 203 

The command, therefore, which God has uttered by the 
prophet Ezekiel, " make you a new mind," confirms the 
doctrine which I have proposed concerning the nature of 
repentance, and shows it to be a change of mind or purpose. 

Once more, this doctrine is confirmed by the doctrine of 
Paul, when he says " if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is 
anew creature." This means new in character — new in the 
great ruling purpose of the heart and life* The change, 
therefore, by which a man becomes a Christian, is a change 
in his great ruling purpose ; but the change by which a 
man becomes a Christian is in repentance from sin. Re- 
pentance, therefore, is a change of purpose, or change of mind. 

I have now shown that Scriptural repentance consists 
in a change of mind or purpose, from two sources of in- 
formation : first, from the fact that this is the proper mean- 
ing of the word itself; and second, from the fact that the 
great change which the Scriptures require in man, in order 
to salvation, which is the same change denoted by repent- 
ance, is spoken of in such terms as to manifest that it con- 
sists in such a change of mind. 

What kind of a change of mind, or purpose, is meant by 
repentance in the Scriptures, is also manifest from what 
has been said in our discussion. The command " to re- 
pent," in the Bible, is generally so connected with other 
expressions as to show what it is which men are to repent 
of, and, if we may so express it, what they are to repent 

I have now proved that the usage of the Hebrew word '"heart" is exactly 
equivalent to our usage of the word li mind;" saving that it is more often used 
to denote the emotive faculties, though not more correctly. I have also shown, 
more particularly, that the word " heart," in Hebrew usage, like the word 
" mind," in English usage, often denotes the purpose of the mind, or the state of 
the will and the attending affections. 

* The author here alludes to proof of this view of the passage, given in dis- 
course on the Lord's Day previous. 



204 DISCOURSES, 

to. They are to repent of sin ; and sin, the same Bibie in^ 
forms us, is the transgression of God's law ; and God's 
law, it also teaches, is briefly expressed in these two com- 
mands : to love God supremely, and our neighbor as our- 
selves. To repent, therefore, is to determine no longer to 
transgress this law — L e., it is to determine, from this time 
forth, to live unto God, and for the rights and interests of 
our fellow men. 

For the mind sincerely to come into such a state, from 
a state of selfishness in its purposes, from entire worldliness 
of aim, is surely a great and important change. It is im- 
portant for the honor of God, for the happiness of one's 
fellow-men, and for the purity and goodness of the soul in 
which it takes place. It is a change so great as to involve 
an entire change of the character ; a change from utter sel- 
fishness, the root of every sinful thought, or word, or deed>_ 
to the holy nobleness of universal love. 

The relation which those feelings of sorrow and distress, 
experienced by the mind in view of the nature and conse- 
quences of sin, sustain to repentance, needs now to be con- 
sidered. 

Repentance itself has been shown to consist essentially 
in a change of the mind's ruling purpose ; but the human 
mind is the subject of various powers or faculties, and such 
a change in it does not take place alone. 

The mind which truly sees the nature of the sinfulness 
in which it has been living, that it is the transgression of a 
benevolent law, will from its nature unavoidably feel dis- 
tressed that it has been guilty of such transgression. And 
this feeling, especially when quickened by a view of the 
Divine character, tends powerfully to lead the mind to give 
up its sin, or to repent. It is that " godly sorrow" of 



DISCOURSES. 205 

which Paul speaks, that " worketh repentance unto salva- 
tion, not to be regretted." But this very fact implies that 
the sorrow which is felt is a distinct thing from the re- 
pentance itself. 

It cannot be affirmed, however, with certainty, that this 
godly sorrow always precedes repentance. Some minds 
may be moved to forsake sin. by that distress which, through 
Divine grace, they are brought to feel, in view of the awful 
consequences to which it has exposed them. Some minds, 
again, may be led to determine on obedience to God by a 
simple view of the excellence of His character and will. 
In neither of these cases is there any godly sorrow pre- 
ceding the act of repentance. But in both these cases it 
will as surely follow repentance as that the soul shall con- 
tinue to live and apprehend the truth. When, in the 
former case, the soul shall have experienced the sense of 
pardon, and been relieved of its fears, and when in both 
cases some experience of obedience is had, and some know- 
ledge of the Divine goodness, then will follow that godly 
sorrow which more than anything else deepens the soul's 
repentance and sets it more fully upon God. 

This is indeed a sorrow not sorrowful! It is a grief where- 
in joy has the greater part — for there is mingled with the 
sad regrets for sin that blissful sense of the Divine good- 
ness which the soul can in no otherwise feel. 

And this most blessed sorrow for sin, this sorrow most 
acceptable to God, must always follow repentance, and 
can never precede it. 

Inferences. 

First. Repentance denotes the same act of the soul with that 
sometimes expressed by the terms " being born again" and " con 



206 DISCOURSES 

version" It is the act by which the soul is changed from 
a sinful to a holy state. 

But though these terms all denote the same act — there 
is a reason for the use of each — they do not all have pre-, 
cisely the same meaning. 

Being born again, expresses simply the fact of a change 
in the soul's condition. Repentance denotes that change, 
but with a reference to that state of sin from which the change 
was made : conversion denotes the same change, but with a 
reference to that state of godliness to which the change is 
made. And here it should be remarked that to convert, 
means to turn. The Greek word emGTp£(j)G) is properly 
translated "turn," in Acts ix. 35; a all that dwelt in 
Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord ;" Acts 
xi. 21, " a great number believed and turned unto the Lord ;' 
and Acts xiv. 15, we " preach unto you that ye should 
turn from these vanities, unto the living God. '* 

But instead of always rendering vmarQifyid by the En* 
glish word turn, our translators have sometimes rendered 
it by the Latin word convert or be converted, which has ob- 
scured the subject, and given rise to false ideas. The word 
always means to turn — and though the name of Him to 
whom the sinner turns is not always mentioned, it seems, 
to be always implied. 

This turning to God consists simply in taking upon us 

* We may add as specially pertinent, Acts iii. 36, vii. 39; 2 Cor. iii. 16, and 1 
Th.es. i. 9. In the first of these passages Bloomfield remarks an ambiguity of 
interpretation, since dTroarpi(peiv may be taken either in a transitive or intransi^ 
tive sense. " The latter view, which is supported by the most eminent, ancient 
and modern interpreters, seems preferable. And £? roc may be taken for £is top 
denoting purpose ; or for £m 5 q. d. 'On everyone of your turning from his in- 
iquities,' i. e., if every one of you shall turn. This is confirmed by the words of 
verse 19, ueravofjaare kcli £7UffTpei}saT£ ; and by Isa. i. 16, (which the Apostl 
seems to have had in mind,) TrdvaavOe ano rwv novrjpi&v fytwi/." 



DISCOURSES. 207 

His service. It is turning to Him as our God. In other 
words, it is the forming in our hearts the solemn purpose, 
henceforth to live supremely unto Him, giving up the love 
of the world. 

And this is the same change, which, when we have par- 
ticularly in mind those sins from which we turn in making 
this change, we call repentance, in imitation of the Scrip- 
tural usage of this word. 

Repentance and conversion, then, denote the same 
change ; but one denotes it with reference to what preceded 
it, the other denotes it with a reference to what comes af- 
ter it. 

Repentance is turning from sin ; conversion is turning 
to God; but turning from sin, and turning to God, are both 
one and the same act. 

Second. A long period of distress, in conviction for sin, is 
no part of repentance. It is caused by the fact that the sin- 
ner will not repent (either to forsake disobedience or un- 
belief.) It is wholly unnecessary, for the promise of God 
to forgive him who repents and believes in Jesus is without 
any reserve or any further condition. 

Neither should a man say that he cannot repent, be- 
cause he does not feel deep convictions, or sorrow for sin. 
This is not what God requires of him. His command is 
that the sinner turn from his sins unto God. This he has 
power to do. You have power to do it this moment, im- 
penitent man. 

Third. The necessity of the Holy Spirits influences cannot 
arise from the want of power in the sinner. It must 
arise from the fact that he is so wedded to the world that 
he will not repent, unless the Spirit of God is given. 
Hence its influences are properly called gracious, because 



208 DISCOURSES. 

they are a pure gratuity. And this truth shows the sin- 
fulness of men, and the goodness of God. It shows, too, 
the danger of resisting the Spirit of God. 

Fourth. We see who is the true penitent. Not the man 
who in the hour and place of religious exercise feels trou- 
bled in view of his sins, and confesses them with much ap- 
parent humility, but who goes out into the world only to 
repeat them ; but the man who is found putting away sin 
in his life. 

We sometimes hear of dishonest professors of religion — yet 
they seem to pray in a veiy penitential and pious manner. The 
only way in which I can account for their delusion is, to sup- 
pose that they have mistaken the nature of repentance. A sin- 
cere purpose will produce some fruits in the life. A true repen- 
t ance will therefore be manifested in the life ; and it matters 
little how much or how little a man stops to grieve over 
sins past, provided he is found forsaking sin in the future. 
Grief for sins past, however, is valuable to the soul so far 
as it impels it the more earnestly to guard against it in 
future ; and in a truly penitent soul it has undoubtedly a 
strong influence in this direction. But it is a wretched 
mistake when a man measures his repentance by the 
amount or degree of troubled feeling that visits his bosom 
in religious hours, rather than by his fidelity in putting 
away sin in the hour of intercourse with worldly things 
and of conflict with temptation. 

Fifth. As an ordinary thing, in Christian communities, there 
can be no repentance upon a death-bed. 

Esau, we have seen, " found no place for repentance, 
though he sought it carefully with tears." His birthright 
he had sold for a mess of pottage — the deed was done and 
past, and God took it not back ; He gave him no oppor- 



DISCOURSES. 209 

tunity to decide again whether he would sell it for such a 
price. And just so when the sinner has come to his dying 
bed, and when he sees that once, when life was before 
him, God offered him eternal salvation on condition that 
in faith in Christ he would devote that life to His service, 
and when he reflects that he rejected that offer, and spent 
his life in seeking the world, oh ! he may wish with many 
tears that he had the opportunity again to choose ! but he 
will not find it — there is no place now for repentance — no 
opportunity to change his mind as to how he will live in 
this world hereafter, for no such hereafter is his. 

It has been shown that repentance has reference to the future. 

But sin consists in loving this world more than God — 
in living for worldly ends rather than to serve and honor 
God. How then can a man who has come to the end of 
life change his mind or purpose as to how he will live, re- 
solving that he will no longer live unto the world, but will 
live unto God ? He cannot so change his mind — that is, 
he cannot repent of sin. 

Objection. — Did not the thief on the cross truly repent ? 
The case of this thief was different from that of any of you. 
You have no evidence that he had ever before in his life 
been offered salvation on condition of repentance — neither 
was he offered it now — but without any assurance of sal- 
vation he freely confessed his sins, and began, so far as he 
had any opportunity left, to obey God in doing righteously 
and believing in Jesus. He confessed Christ there on the 
cross, subject as he was to be insulted and tortured anew 
by the crucifiers of Jesus, who surrounded him, and humbly 
prayed that Christ would " remember" him in his King- 
dom. No wonder that Jesus answered : " This day shalt 

10* 



210 DISCOURSES. 

thou be with me in Paradise."* But the case of the sinner 
who has all his life been offered salvation on condition of 
repentance and faith in Christ, and who has now nothing left 
that he can do to prove that he hates sin and loves the 
Lord, — such a case is surely very different from the case 
of the penitent thief. , * 

Is this a hard doctrine? No, it is remapk&bk (and it is 
a sure doctrine) : the case of Esau who had sold his birth- 
right for a mess of pottage, and the case of the sinner who 
has bartered away his title to a heavenly inheritance for 
the momentary joys of earth, and who has passed by the 
time of choosing between God and the world, are exactly 
similar. 

* Abp. Whately, in a discussion of the case of the thieves crucified with Christ, 
after showing that the adage, " one was taken that none might despair, and only 
one, that none might presume," is not supported by this passage of Scripture, 
and that the repentance of the believing thief must have occurred before he came 
to the cross, remarks that his was surely u a most extraordinary instance of faith, 
especially considering how strongly all the current Jewish prejudices concerning 
the Messiah set the other way. . . . Yet in opposition to all these preju- 
dices, this man acknowledged as his Lord and King — as the Supreme Ruler of 
the unseen world — a person who was nailed to a cross beside him, derided by 
his enemies, deserted by his friends, and about to conclude a persecuted life by 
a most ignominious death. . . . Whether any one of us does actually possess 
equal faith with this man, can be known only to the all-wise God. But we may 
be sure that no one of us can display equal faith with his ; because the circum- 
stances are such as can never occur again." Scr. Rev. of a Future State. Chaps, 
xi. xii. We wish every person could read these chapters. — [Ed. 



DISCOURSE XIV. 



Evils of Sectarianism. 

1 Cor. i. 10 — 13 : "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be 
perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same 
judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my 
brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there 
are contentions among you. Now this I say,* that every 
one of you saith, I am of Paul ; and I of Ap olios ; and 
I of Cephas ; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ? Was 
Paul crucified for you 9 or were ye baptized in the name 
of Paul r 

It would seem as if no man could read these words of 
the Great Apostle, without vividly seeing that party divi- 
sions among the people of Christ were, in his view, a most 
astonishing thing, as well as a great evil. " Is Christ di- 
vided," he says; that ye, who are all His, and who have 
all been " baptized by one spirit into one body," even " the 
body of Christ," should be sundered one from the other 
(1 Cor. xii. 13 — 27,) by party names'? And he abjures 
them in the most solemn manner, he beseeches them by an 
appeal the most sacred that words cculd utter, even by the 
name of the Christ, as it were for His sake, and for His 
bleeding cause — to forsake these pernicious ways, and to 
be perfectly joined together in the same mind. * 

* Or, "this is what I speak of, or refer to." 



212 DISCOURSES. 

In the latter part of this Epistle, also, he bears hard 
upon the same point, though incidentally. " There are di- 
versities of gifts," he says, " but the same Spirit ; and there 
are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which 
worketh all in all ;" and then he compares the different 
individuals of the visible church to different members of 
the same living body, teaching that it was God's design 
" that there should be no schism in the body." And to 
sum up all, he says, u now ye are the body of Christ, and 
members in particular ;" that is, ye all together compose the 
body of Christ, and each one of you in particular is a mem- 
ber of that body : as if he would charge them, by their 
strifes and divisions, with rending the sacred person of their 
holy Redeemer, and mangling his flesh anew. In the third 
chapter, also, he urges their divisions as a proof of their 
carnality, or earthliness of thought and feeling ; inquiring 
with a degree of vehemence, " For while one saith, I am of 
Paul ; and another, I of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" 

In his Epistle to the Ephesians, he beseeches them to 
walk worthy of their vocation, " with long suffering ; for- 
bearing one another in love ; endeavoring to keep the unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace ;" reminding them that 
" there is one body and one Spirit," " one hope of their 
calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and 
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you 
all." 

By what more impressive and powerful appeal could the 
Apostle exhort believers in Christ, to unity of heart and 
action? — One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one 
faith, one purification, one God and Father, who is above 
all, and through all, and in you all ! How can ye be di- 
vided ? how can ye rend and sunder yourselves into many ? 



DISCOURSES. 213 

In the fifth chapter of Ephesians he ranks divisions or 
separations of believers {dL%0OTaoiai) with " adultery, for- 
nication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, 
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, envyings, mur- 
ders, drunkenness, revelings and such like," calling them 
all " the works of the flesh." 

And, as if in allusion to such instructions as these, in 
the close of his Epistle to the Romans, he says, " I beseech 
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and 
offences, contrary to the instruction which ye have received, 
and avoid them." 

The testimony which has now been adduced upon the 
subject presented by the text, and which might be greatly 
increased, is certainly of a most decided and remarkable 
character. The force and bearing of it all upon the Church 
in our own day cannot altogether fail of being felt, though 
no more should be said upon it. 

But what adds greatly to its force as applied to the 
Church in our times, is the fact that the evil which it re- 
bukes exists now in a degree which renders that which ex- 
cited the admonitions of the Apostle, in comparison, as 
light as air. No such divisions as now exist among the 
people of Christ, were to be heard of then. No sects rent 
the body of Christ in fragments, and stood casting arrows 
at each other, while they strove with selfish emulation for 
the spoils of victory. The Church of Christ was one and 
indivisible : " many members, but one body." It was not a 
union in theological opinions : for theology did not then 
exist as a science, or in speculative forms, but only as em- 
bodied in practical truth and godliness. It was a union 
founded upon a simple belief in Christ, implying obedience, 
and evidenced thereby. All who gave evidence of such a 



2 14 DISCOURSES. 

belief, were at once baptized, and received into the com- 
pany of believers — in other words, into the Church visible ; 
and this, without any questioning of their opinions in sec- 
ondary matters, and even if they were known to be but 
partially enlightened and delivered from error. The in- 
structions of the Apostle were expressly given to this effect, 
Rom. xiv. 1 : where he says, as the margin, in part, cor- 
rectly renders it, " Him that is weak in the faith receive 
ye, not in judgment of his doubtful thoughts" (or opinions)* 
— a reception which is not limited by the Apostle, and 
which must therefore mean a full reception as a Christian, 
implying admission to the fellowship, and all the privileges 
of the Christian Church. Paul had already said (chap. viii. 
14), u As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are 
the Sons of God ;" which certainly implies that every child 
of God should receive them altogether as brethren. And 
the history of the Church, in the days of the Apostles and 
immediately following, approves the interpretation I have 
given ; for it shows, as no one disputes, I believe, that they 
were thus received. 

Yet, notwithstanding this, there did exist, even in Paul's 
day, a disposition in some to separate themselves on some 
pretext into distinct classes in the church — a disposition 
which was the seed of those sectarian divisions which af- 
terward arose, and which were swallowed up in part by 
the Romish Church, to be renewed and multiplied in our 
times. 

It was this disposition in its incipient forms — in its 

* Bloomfield says: "but not for the purpose of examining and agitating with 
him doubtful or disputed points; since, as contempt and harshness might urge 
him to apostacy, so to perplex his mind with points which his Christian judg- 
ment is not sufficiently mature to enable him to grapple with, might drive him 
into skepticism." See also Calvin on the passage. — [Ed. 



DISCOURSES. 215 

first peepings above the ground in the new garden of 
Christ — that roused the Apostle's attention, and against 
which he hurled the lightniug of his rebuke, that he might 
smite it as an evil weed, and destroy it in the beginning of 
its growth. But if the beginning of this evil called forth 
such reproofs from his inspired lips, how weald his soul 
glow, and his words burn, were he commissioned now to 
look upon and to rebuke the sins of Christ's people. Nay, 
would not rather his mighty heart break under the burden 
of this sorrow, and his eloquent lips grow dumb before the 
magnitude of the evil? Division carried to its utmost 
length ; " the body of Christ" rent into scores of frag- 
ments,* many of them excluding each other, engaged in mu- 
tual strife, and even denying to one another the name of 
Churches ; and the great mass of the Church seeming to 
slumber over the evil, or even loving to have it so ! Oh, 
that there were a Paul now, to cry aloud with his trumpet 
voice, and show God's people their transgression, and the 
house of Jacob their sin ! 

Or, would that the Church of Christ might pause long 
enough from its sectarian strife, to hear the voice of its 
Redeemer and Lord, pleading with God in prayer, on that 
sorrowful night, ere the traitor came — " Holy Father, keep 
through thine own name, those whom Thou hast given me, 
that they may be one as we are. Neither pray I for these 
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through 
their word ; that they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, 
art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; 
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." The pray- 
ers of Christ were not offered for a light matter, least of all 

* The number of Christian sects in the United States alone, is upwards of fifty, 
and they are constantly increasing. 



216 DISCOURSES. 

that memorable petition which the pen of inspiration has 
recorded for the Church in all ages to wonder and weep 
over — the prayer of its dying Lord. The desirableness 
of that visible union of His people for which Christ prayed 
as the means of impressing His truth on the world, and the 
evils of those divisions against which the Apostle so earn- 
estly exhorts, need to be better understood by the Church ; 
for sure I am, if they were understood properly the lovers 
of Christ would strive for that unity, and put away those 
divisions. 

Neither are these things difficult to be seen or under- 
stood. It is my deep conviction, that sectarianism is a 
prominent cause of the low state of piety among Christians ; 
and, including the principles which lie at its base, the 
greatest single obstacle which exists to the spread and 
triumph of our religion in the world. It is my design to 
spread before you briefly the reasons for this conviction, 
and thus to urge upon you the exhortation of the Apostle 
in the text ; and I pray Thee, Thou risen and glorified Re- 
deemer, be Thou our Intercessor with the Father, that thine 
own truth may prevail with us, and that thine own prayer once 
offered in the flesh may be fulfilled ! 

A rapid statement of the reasons for holding the first 
proposition, will occupy all our remaining time at present 
— that sectarianism, or the division of the Church into dif- 
ferent sects, is a prominent cause of the low state of piety among 
Christians. 

First. Because it gives too great prominence to speculative 
opinions ; or, in other words, to non-practical truths. 

No true Church of Christ is separated from other 
churches of different names, on the ground of a difference 
of view, concerning practical religious duty. It is a fact, 



DISCOURSES. 217 

indeed, which deserves particular notice, that all true 
branches of the Church of Christ recognize the same practi- 
cal way of salvation, and the same applications of Gospel 
truth to the relations and duties of human life ; or if there be 
any difference on this point, as may perhaps exist in rela- 
tion to the subject of slavery, it does not run parallel with 
denominational lines. 

The particular ideas, therefore, on which the different 
sects in the Church are distinctively based, do not relate to 
practical religious duty. The notions which each sect 
holds up as the banner of its division in the army of Christ, 
do not refer to practical piety, or the moral requirements 
of God. It is the theory of election and perseverance in 
one, the theory of free grace in another, the theory of min- 
isterial functions in a third, and so on, which are inscribed 
on their party walls. 

It is, then, the tendency of these divisions to call off at- 
tention from practical moral truth, from love to God and 
love to man, from the real essentials of religion ; and to fix it 
upon non-practical and secondary things. And thus re- 
sults an immense injury to the cause of religion. The very 
state of division holds up constantly the thing about which 
Christians differ in a prominent light, and so tends to di- 
vert their view from the great things about which they are 
agreed ; and thus these things lose much of their proper 
influence. We find an illustration of this in the history of 
the political parties of our nation. 

About the great essential principles of our Government 
both Whigs and Democrats have ever been agreed ; about 
minor questions of policy alone, they differ. But who 
ever thinks of the points whereon they are agreed % It is 
the constant tendency of party division, to turn the whole 



218 DISCOURSES. 

attention to the things whereon they are at variance. And 
this, indeed, is one of the dangers which party strife occa- 
sions to the existence of our institutions — that it will so 
absorb the attention of the people to secondary matters of 
mere policy, that cunning and ambitious plotters will trench 
unheeded upon essential principles, till they shall have 
gained power to strike down our liberties. 

And just so it is in the Church of Christ. Its party di- 
visions, we trust, will never destroy its essential truth ; but 
they tend to keep it out of sight, and to depress it from the 
position and influence which it ought to have ; and thus 
they depress the piety of the Church. 

It is necessary for me to guard against one error, by 
which some might seek to rebut what has been said. There 
is one sect that separates itself from other Christians, on 
the ground of the mode of baptism. And some may urge 
that this is a practical religious duty. Our limits here al- 
low only a few words on this point. I observe, then : 
baptism is indeed a practical duty ; but neither the mode 
of baptism, nor baptism at all, is any part of what we mean 
by practical religion or piety. To test this : if you were 
asked which of two men is the best practical Christian, 
you would try to find out — what ? Why, the state of 
their hearts, by examining their lives and actions ; you 
would never think of inquiring how this one had been 
baptized, and how that ; or whether either had been bap- 
tized at all — and none but a bigot would. However, 
therefore, any of our brethren may urge the propriety or 
duty of fulfilling Christ's command just as He gave it, the 
founding of a religious sect, or the basing of a division of 
the Church, upon the particular mode of baptism, is an ex- 
altation of an idea not belonging to practical piety, into a 



DISCOURSES. 219 

prominence which tends to obscure the great and essential 
ideas of religion itself, and so to injure the power and pro- 
gress of religion in the heart.* The proof which I have 
given can hardly be disputed ; and that it needs to be proved, 
illustrates the truth I am presenting. m And I feel com- 
pelled to say, as what will impress upon others the truth I 
am urging, that it is the general conviction of other de- 
nominations, that those who do thus exalt to undue prom- 
inence this secondary matter, are injured in their piety by 
so doing. 

And how much the cause of piety, throughout the Chris- 
tian Church, is hurt by similar acts in every sect, I believe 
we are none of us able to estimate. But a great injury is 
evidently done. The mighty truths of life and death are 
half hidden from the eyes of Christians, by the party ban- 
ners which they are flaunting to the wind, and around 
which they have gathered to contend. The party cry is 
uttered so frequent and so loud, that the still small voice, 
which eternity is ever uttering to time, is half unheard. 

I know there are Christians in every sect who are spirit- 
ually minded, and from whom nothing is able to conceal 
or cover up the solemn truths of revelation touching the 

* u I would not'' says Robert Hall, " myself, baptize in any other way than by 
immersion, because I look upon immersion as the ancient mode ; that it best 
represents the meaning of the original term employed and the substantial im- 
port of this institution, and because I should think it right to guard against the 
spirit of innovation, which in positive rules is always dangerous and progressive ; 
but I should not think myself authorized to baptize any one who had been sprin* 
kled in adult age." 

We cite this passage, not in the way of argumentum ex concessis, but as illus- 
trating what we regard as the principle of toleration and the wisest expediency 
in things not fundamental, though important. Those who have taken similar 
ground, have, if we mistake not, been most successful in the propagation of their 
particular views, — and have thus shown that tolerance, so far from promoting 
indifference, is the best means of promoting candid inquiry and the interests of 
truth itself— [Ed , 



220 DISCOURSES. 

soul's eternal destiny ; but it is not so, unhappily, with the 
mass of professed believers ; they are not spiritually in- 
clined ; and the visible things of their earthly contention, 
the things about which they differ with other believers, are 
too prone to exclude the invisible things in which they are 
all agreed, and when they are made fences of division from 
other sects, or from the Church universal, they are the 
more sure to do it. I need only appeal to the experience 
and observation of my hearers to confirm what I am say- 
ing. You have seen this influence in others, Christian 
friends ; and if you scrutinize your own religious history 
you will probably perceive its influence with yourselves. 

The life-truths of God's sacred revelation are too apt to 
be neglected and obscured in the maze of other truths and 
interests which demand man's attention ; and nothing, per- 
haps, so insidiously prevails to this end in the truly Chris- 
tian heart, as the disproportionate claims of other, yet sec- 
ondary, religious truths. And when men separate from 
their Christian brethren, on the ground of any of these 
secondary truths, their zeal for them is necessarily in- 
creased by the attitude they assume, to the at least partial 
neglect of those truths which are primary and essential. 

I say not, my friends, that the sectarian divisions of the 
Church of Christ destroy the piety of believers ; but they 
tend to diminish it. Even those whose hearts are bent on 
spiritual things, and who are truly endeavoring to "seek 
first," and to promote first, " the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness," — even they are often wounded and irri- 
tated, to their own spiritual injury, by the sectarian zeal 
which thrusts its unhallowed hand into the budding vine- 
yard of Christ, to seize and transplant the just springing 
germs of grace, at the risk of their destruction, or by some 



DISCOURSES. 221 

Other exhibition of this unchrist-like zealotry, perhaps still 
more offensive. 

And though the piety and devotedness of many, in all 
the Churches, is not to be gainsay ed 5 nor the really great 
things, in themselves considered, which Zion is doing for 
the world, yet compared with the standard of the Gospel 
and with the means of grace Which God has given, it must 
be said that the piety of the Church is strangely and 
mournfully feeble, and its progress slow. And who can 
estimate the difference that would soon be manifested, were 
all the people of Christ to cast aside their strifes and sepa- 
rations, and unite on the great central truths of the Gos* 
pel, the universally admitted and solemn themes of our 
holy religion 1 How much more should we feel those 
mighty truths, and be influenced by them, did we see them 
filling all hearts among the disciples of Jesus, and bringing 
them together, with a willing submissal of secondary 
things, to testify to their reality and solemn weight. 

It is not my design to attack existing institutions, or to 
prescribe at present any remedy for the evil. I would 
rather seek to call the attention of those who love Christ to 
this subject, and commend it to your Christian considera- 
tion, and your serious and prayerful inquiry. 

May God grant you a disposition to look the evil fairly 
in the face ; and when you have scrutinized its features, 
and ascertained its true character and influence, may He 
grant to you, and to all your brethren in the Lord, wisdom 
and grace to see and to do your duty, for the prosperity of 
the Church and the honor of our Redeemer! 



DISCOURSE XV 



Evils of Sectarianism. 

1 Cor. 1.10-13? "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, 
and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be 
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same 
judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my 
brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there 
are contentions among you* Now this I say, that every one 
of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Ap olios; and I of 
Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided 9 Was Paul 
crucified for you ? or were ye baptized in the name of 
Paul?" 

In the discussion of this subject I have already stated 
rny deep conviction, that the divisions of the Christian 
Church, as they now exist, are a prominent cause of the 
low state of piety among believers ; and, with their foun- 
dation principles, the greatest single obstacle, which now 
exists, to the spread and triumph of our religion in the 
world. 

And for the first of these propositions one reason has 
been adduced, namely : that these divisions give too great 
prominence to those ideas or truths which are not necessa- 
rily involved in practical religion, and so call off atten- 
tion from the great truths of piety and moral duty, 

Second. A second reason which I will now advance is, 
thai it holds up the idol of party, to divide the heart from Christ 



DISCOURSES. 223 

There is something which the French expressively call 
esprit du corps, or the spirit of the body or party, which 
every man who has looked upon life must have witnessed ; 
and, indeed, almost every man who has lived, in our coun- 
try, must have felt. I well remember how — when a mere 
child, and knowing nothing about politics except the names 
of party leaders — I joined in the cry of my young asso- 
ciates, " Hurrah for Jackson !" And when the Democratic 
party re-elected him to the Presidency, I felt elated at the 
triumph of "our side" and as really pleased as if / had 
gained something. The mention of such an incident may 
make any of us smile ; but, my friends, it furnishes an ex- 
cellent illustration of the spirit of party. Human nature 
in the boy and in the man is just the same. The man 
who attaches himself to a party will feel the influence of 
the esprit du corps, the spirit of party ; he becomes, in a 
measure, identified with it, and rejoices in its triumphs as 
though they were his own, and this even though he is too 
ignorant to know the principles or aims which it cherishes, 
and has no other reason for it than that it is his party. 
And this, indeed, is one form of the principle of selfishness 
— which is the essential principle of all sin. 

Now, the moment you separate the Church of Christ 
into distinct divisions, you set up the idol of party. Suc- 
cess or adversity will no longer affect the mind simply as 
they touch the cause of Christ, but they will be felt, also, 
as affecting "our side" or our Church. When the Church 
is prosperous, its members will be elated at their gain ; and 
when others outstrip it, they will be troubled at their hu- 
miliation and loss. It is not Christ and His cause to 
which their whole thoughts and desires are now turned ; 
the idol of party has been set up, and it claims — and re- 



224 DISCOURSES. 

ceives— part of their regard. The man, I think, is almost 
more than human, that can wholly avoid this influence—^ 
at least, after he has been long identified with any particu- 
lar branch of the Church. And, let it be remembered, this 
is not an influence which rises up to affect the mind only 
at particular periods — as of prosperity or adversity ; it is 
an influence which is all the time at work. The idol has 
been set up — to divide the heart from the blessed Saviouf 
and His holy service ; and its influence is as ceaseless as 
the existence of the cause. And this party feeling is, as 
we have seen, very wickedness ; being a form of selfish- 
ness, the essence of all sin ; so that a sinful desire is blend- 
ing continually in the heart with its love to Christ, and 
polluting the worship which it offers Him* 

Great, therefore, is the injury which is thus done to the 
piety of Christ's people. It casts a mill-stone round the 
neck of those who are struggling upwards to the image of 
their Redeemer. It mingles poison with the streams of 
salvation that flow to the soul through the Church, and 
casts a blight upon its budding fruit. This is another way 
in which the divisions of Christ's Church render its love 
impure, and depress its piety* 

Third. A further reason for the idea I have advanced 
is found in the fact, that the spirit of party created by secta* 
rian divisions helps to create or sustain in existence merely formal 
characters, in which little or no spirit of piety abides, and intro- 
duces false professors into many other churches, and so debases 
the standard of religion among men. 

To see the first part of this cause in the fullness of its 
operation, we need, perhaps to go to other lands, where 
Churches are found from which the spirit of Christ seems 
wholly to have departed, but which are kept in existence, 
in part, at least, by the party feeling of which I have spoken. 



DISCOURSES. 225 

But the attentive observer may see enough of this evil 
in our own country. There are many churches in our 
land which have too little piety to hold them together or 
keep them in existence an hour, which yet are sustained 
in being through the sectarian influence spoken of. If 
they would only die, if dissolution would seize and an- 
nihilate them, they would be out of the way, and the chariot 
of salvation might roll on. But as it is, they block its 
wheels ; for every Christian knows that a formal religion 
is a hardener of the heart against the truth. And not only 
are their own hearts hardened, but by maintaining their 
existence as professors of religion, while yet they do not 
exhibit its power, they bring down the standard of religion 
in the community. 

The same cause also has, in my judgment, helped to 
create some formal churches in our land to do the same 
injurious work. 

But whether it has created formal churches or not, it is 
every day creating formal Christians, and that by hundreds. 
Individual churches, in their sectarian zeal lest others 
should outstrip them, are hurrying into their enclosure 
many who have not yet given sufficient evidence of real 
piety, and who afterwards show that their hearts have 
never been moulded by the love of Christ. 

But, it is a great, an unspeakable injury to the cause of 
religion, when the standard of piety is thus debased by 
creating unworthy professors. Probably no Christian is 
aware how much his conscience is hardened to endure 
quietly his well-known unfaithfulness, by the evil example 
of others who bear the Christian name. If God should 
with His lightning smite every hypocrite out of the Church, 
that His true people might not have them to lean upon in 

11 



226 DISCOURSES, 

their neglect of duty, what an impulse would be given to 
their earnestness and fidelity ! But the party spirit of sec- 
tarianism is multiplying false professors continually, to de- 
base the standard of piety in the Church, and hang as dead 
weights upon the wheels of its spiritual progress. It is 
thus making religion, in the eyes of those who look at the 
Church as its exemplification, mean almost nothing at all, 
and is casting a shadow of eyil, and blowing a blighting 
wind, upon every Christian's soul. 

Yes, I charge all this mischief, the existence of which 
you all know, upon the sectarian divisions of the people of 
Christ ; and let him deny it who can. It is in fact their 
legitimate fruit ; and never, until men are wholly sancti- 
fied, will they cease to bud and ripen to the same. 

Fourth. But a fourth reason for the conviction I have 
stated is, that sectarianism hinders progress in the truth. That 
it does hinder Christians from progressing in the truth, I 
shall here assume, as in some degree a manifest truth, but 
one which it is my design on another occasion to prove and 
exhibit. But, hindering as it does progress in the truth, 
sectarianism necessarily hinders the sanctification of be- 
lievers, since this must proceed by the truth. If the attention 
and zeal of the Church had not been so much taken up by 
other matters, it would, long ere this, have reached such a 
position in the understanding of Gospel truth, especially as 
concerns its application to the conduct of life, as would 
have placed the Church far in advance of its present moral 
attainments. We have yet much to learn with regard to 
the bearing and comprehension of the moral precepts of 
Christ. The bearings of the moral law upon the dealings 
of man with man, the employment of ihe tongue, and the 
aims of life, have only begun to be understood. With the 



DISCOURSES. 227 

Gospel in its hand, and " the golden rule" upon the front- 
let that adorns its brow, the Church has advanced but a 
little way in that course to which it is called, compared 
with what might have been expected. And it is because 
it is kept back from progress in the truth, that it has made 
so little progress out of the corruption of man's natural 
state. 

Fifth. Another reason for the truth urged, which is one 
kindred with the last ? is, that sectarianism tends to retain cor- 
ruption in the Church, 

It does so because it creates an unwillingness to weaken 
the Church in external power or means, by casting it out. 

Some sinful practice exists in a given Church, or some 
corrupt and corrupting members are found it it. When 
this is looked at in the light of the Gospel, every Christian's 
conscience prompts to duty. But now comes in the fear 
of diminishing the wealth or numbers, and so the iufluence 
and rank, of the Church as compared with rival sects, 
and so the evil is tolerated — perhaps with the hope of bet- 
ter times in the future. Is it not so, my friends, with that 
dreadful corruption that broods and festers in the Churches 
of the South 1 Were there no rival sects there to 
create the fear of being outdone in wealth and power, would 
not some of the Churches of Christ do their duty in this 
matter of slavery, and thereby set a ball in motion whose 
rolling sound would cause the fetters to snap from millions 
of wretched bondmen % 

But as it is, I think you may rely upon it, no one de- 
nomination will begin the work till the rest are ready, or 
till it shall appear that power and influence will follow the 
stroke. 

And this, let it be observed, is only an illustration of an 



228 DISCOURSES. 

everywhere present and active influence for evil. Secta- 
rianism causes men to look at the external prosperity of a 
Church, and to prize it more highly than they should, and 
so to sacrifice to it the dearer interests of purity and 
spiritual growth. 

It causes corrupt practices and corrupt men to be re- 
tained in its bosom, which ought to be cast out, and thus 
it defiles its garments, and brings leanness upon its mem- 
bers. 

And if any one Church is free from a participation in 
this sin, it is not therefore free from the injurious effects 
which this sin is producing : for by lowering the standard 
of piety in those Churches where it does exist, it affects 
all the rest. It is, indeed, unhappily true, among the other 
unhappy things connected with this subject, that the rivalry 
which sectarianism produces, does not include a rivalry in 
spirituality and likeness to Christ ; but looks rather to those 
matters of external prosperity which are often the greatest 
sources of moral danger, and spiritual injury. And as it 
is more easy in the world to do evil than to do good, so 
the evil example which sectarian rivalry so ofter begets, 
is more efficacious upon the Church at large than would 
be a purer example, if it were capable of producing it. 

But in addition to what I have said concerning the rea- 
sons of my conviction, I will present another, which in- 
creases all the rest ; and which is, 

Sixth. That the sectarian divisions of Christ's disciples grieve 
the Spirit of God. 

The Holy Spirit of God is most emphatically a spirit of 
unity and love. The Apostle beseeches the Ephesians to 
" keep the unity of the Spirit ;" that is, that peaceful and 
loving oneness of mind to which the Spirit always prompts, 



DISCOURSES. 229 

and which it always produces where it is permitted fully 
to enter and dwell. " With long-suffering" says the Apos- 
tle, " forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the 
unit?/ of the Spirit in the bond of peace" 

And there is a remarkable example offered us in the 
Holy Scriptures of this very thing. When the Spirit came 
down in such mighty power on the day of Pentecost, so 
that in one day " three thousand souls " were added to the 
Church, we are told that all who believed "were together, 
and had all things common" Such perfect oneness of heart 
was produced by the mighty effusion of the Spirit, that no 
believer regarded any of his interests as separate from those 
of his brother in the Lord. 

And when, after a few days, Peter and John had been 
imprisoned and threatened, and, being let go, had gone " to 
their own company and reported all that the chief priests 
and elders had said unto them ;" and when they, hearing 
that, " lift up their voice to God with one accord/' we are 
told that " the place was shaken where they were assem- 
bled together, and they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost ;" and as a consequence of this, it is said, imme- 
diately "the multitude of them that believed were of one 
heart and of one soul ; neither said any of them that aught 
of the things which he possessed was his own ; but they 
had all things in common." 

Here, my brethren, was "the unity of the Spirit" in 
perhaps the most beautiful manifestation which the world 
has seen. I do not say that this community of goods is a 
necessary manifestation of Christian unity, or always to be 
desired. I refer to it here only as showing how perfectly 
" all that believed were of one heart and one soul." 

And you will please notice that this most remarkable 
manifestation of Christian unity took place when, perhaps, 



230 DISCOURSES, 

the mightiest effusion of the Spirit was granted that was 
ever given to men. You will see, then, the significancy of 
the Apostle's expression, " the unity of the Spirit." You 
will see that the Spirit of God peculiarly and powerfully 
prompts to oneness of heart and soul among the people of 
Christ. 

And the same thing is manifested wherever the Spirit of 
God is poured out. Christians of various names forget 
their dissensions, and mingle together in prayers, and la- 
bors, and rejoicings ; and young converts are filled with 
love to all the people of God, and when called on to unite 
with the Church, hardly know which way to go, because by 
uniting with one they will be separating themselves from 
the rest. 

And so it is with every believer. When your heart is 
filled with the Spirit, my brother, your love begins to flow 
forth to all your fellow-disciples. You think you never 
will again indulge in unkind thoughts or feelings toward 
any of them, but will love them all as brethren. 

But now mark the conclusion from all this. If the Holy 
Spirit is a Spirit of unity and love, it is grieved away by 
disunion. Feelings, acts of variance, and rivalry, and 
strife, repel it from the heart. It cannot dwell with jeal- 
ousy, or contention, or a spirit of division, 

And such are the fruits of the sectarian rendings of the 
Church of Christ. You know that it is so, my hearer. 
And you ought to know, therefore, that the Spirit of God 
is continually grieved by these divisions. 

There are many good men who are so conscious that the 
Spirit of God prompts to unity, that they often speak of 
the duty of loving all the brethren, and try to banish sec- 
tarian feelings ; yet they at the same time, perhaps, cling 
fast to every principle of sectarianism, and will let nothing 



DISCOURSES. 231 

go. And they will say to me, Cannot we have union of 
feeling without external union 1 (that is, with external dis- 
union.) I answer, No ! you cannot — except in rare in- 
stances, and in an imperfect degree. It is vain to be beat- 
ing off the leaves of the tree while you continually nourish 
its root. And sectarianism is the " root of bitterness," 
whose acrid and legitimate fruit of divided hearts, and 
jealousy, and strife, doth continually grieve away the Spirit 
of our God and Saviour, and leave our churches in a com- 
parative poverty of grace and growth, that methinks must 
make the very heavens groan with sorrow as they look 
down upon our dying world. 

Up, up ! My brother, my sister in Christ, inquire of 
the Lord concerning this thing. Why slumber ye here, 
while Satan has entered the fold of Christ, a wolf in sheep's 
clothing, and is rending the flock % 

Oh, cry to God, that He will direct you and all the chil- 
dren of His grace, till the Church of His holy Son shall be 
purified and saved. Alas, it is now " a house divided against 
itself." 

Oh, pray that the Lord would unite it, and build it up 
in the truth ; and that He would show you your duty in 
the matter. 

The wants of the world require a holy and united Church. 

I have not attempted to dictate to you, my brethren, 
what your duty is. I have attempted, for the present, no 
prescription for the evil I have described. I would only 
set your minds to thinking, and your hearts to feeling, be- 
lieving that if you ask wisdom of God, He will give liber- 
ally and upbraid you not. 

May the Lord direct your minds to the proper under- 
standing of His truth, to the glory of His grace through 
Christ. 



DISCOURSE XVI. 



Evils of Sectarianism. 

Rom. xvi. 17 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13 ; Ps. cxxxii. 1 ; 1 Cor. hi. 3 ; 
Eph. iv. 1, 2, 3 ; Phil. i. 4, 5 ; Eph. ii. 13, 20, 21. "iVbw 
I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divi- 
sions and offences, contrary to the doctrines which ye have 
learned, and avoid them." u For by one Spirit are we all 
baptized into one body." " Behold how good and how 
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together, in unity." 
se Whereas there is among you envying and strife, and di- 
visions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ?" " I there- 
fore beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation where- 
with ye are called, forbearing one another in love, endeav- 
oring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 11 
" In Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off, are made 
nigh ; and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles 
and prophets, Christ Himself being the chief corner stone : 
in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth 
unto an holy temple in the Lord." 

We are all well enough acquainted with the condition 
of the Church of Christ, to know that it has not heeded the 
beseeching of the Apostle. Instead of " avoiding," that is, 
turning away from, not listening to, those who cause " di- 
visions and offences, contrary to the doctrine" of love and 
forbearance, which is the distinguishing theme and spirit of 
Gospel instructions, the Church seems rather to have turned 
with greedy ear to every one who has invented a new shib- 
boleth of division, and proclaimed a new sword of offence, 



DISCOURSES. 233 

with which to smite and sunder the flock of the Great Shep- 
herd. No longer are we baptized, that is, purified, by one 
spirit into one body ; but our spiritual baptism or purifi- 
cation falls far short of this. Separation of heart, isola- 
tion of interests, every one for himself, is man's natural 
condition ; and the work of the Spirit in destroying this 
separateness only avails to bring a few together, here and 
there in bunches, leaving them almost equally, and some- 
times even more, separate from all the rest. 

Instead of the goodness and the pleasantness of brethren 
dwelling together in unity, is seen the mischief and sad- 
ness of brethren dwelling apart in variance. And these 
things are an evidence not so much of zeal for supposed 
truth, even where they are caused by it, as of carnality, or 
earthliness of mind : because if the minds of believers were 
truly and in all things spiritual, they would so see and feel 
the great and paramount oneness of all that are Christ's as 
to banish these divisions. 

There is need, then, that in imitation of the Apostle, I 
should press upon my Christian hearers the duty of mu- 
tual love and forbearance with all true Chistians, " en- 
deavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit," not with out- 
ward disunion and strife, but with that outward allowance 
and fellowship which is " the bond of peace." For, indeed, 
when in Christ Jesus men are brought nigh to God, they 
must, as has been beautifully said by some one, approach 
each other. And thus, being built upon the foundation 
which God has laid, of which Christ is the corner-stone, 
shall u all the building, fitly framed together" — not unfitly 
rent in fragments, rising sharp and jagged here and there, 
but " fitly framed together," — "grow unto an holy temple 

in the Lord." 

11* 



234 DISCOURSES 

The great and manifold injury done to the piety of the 
Church by its prevalent divisions, I have, according to my 
ability, held up to your notice. 

Most of the causes, also, which, from this source ob- 
struct the piety of the Church, operate additionally and 
directly to hinder its advancement in the world ; and they 
do further very powerfully hinder the latter by injuring the 
former. 

In addition, therefore, to the injury which has already 
been pointed out, I have expressed it as my deep convic- 
tion, after long looking at the subject, that sectarianism, 
with the principles which lie at its base, is — 

II. The greatest single obstacle which now exists to the spread 
and triumph of Christianity among men. 

If this proposition seem strained and incredible to your 
ears, my friends, to gain from you a hearing for the proof 
by which I mean to support it, I need only say — what you 
will all admit — that the religion of Christ, which is " the 
wisdom and power of God to salvation," is adequate to 
save the world, if it were but properly felt, exhibited, and 
enforced by those who profess it ; and whatever therefore 
most hinders the people of Christ from such a realization 
and enforcement of the truth is indeed the greatest obsta- 
cle to its advancement. That this obstacle is found in sec- 
tarianism, and the principles which lie at its base, I shall 
endeavor to show, by the evidences already indicated. 
And in support of my proposition I observe, sectarianism 
operates to this end- 
First, By holding up the differences among Christians too 
prominently before the world, as compared with the great truths 
upon which they are agreed. 

The tendency of Church divisions to give prominence to 
those secondary ideas which are the grounds of separation, 



DISCOURSES. 235 

we have already noticed, and illustrated by the influence of 
political parties in our nation, where all of every party 
agree on those fundamental truths of government, which 
are greater than the questions of policy about which they 
differ. The prominence thus given to secondary religious 
ideas tends to obscure, as we have seen, the greater and 
essential truths of Christianity even to the minds of be- 
lievers, and so to diminish the earnestness and piety of the 
Church. But if it has this obscuring and hurtful effect 
with those who are in some degree lovers of the truth, how 
much more with those who are not. What Christian in 
the land, but knows something of the disposition of the 
natural, unrenewed mind to divert its attention from the 
great duty of submission to God, — repentance and faith 
in Christ, — and from the awful truths of eternity by which 
this duty is enforced, — on any pretext which it can find for 
this purpose, and especially when it can find some connect- 
ed but unessential idea at which to boggle and halt ? And 
sectarianism is forever furnishing such ideas in profusion ; 
and not only furnishing them, but thrusting them with 
might and main in the face of every man who hears the 
truth and turns for a moment to notice it. 

And even where there is an honest desire to seek the 
truth, this enemy of Christ and ally of the devil is ready 
at hand, to bawl its great banner cry so loud in the ear, 
that the voice of eternity cannot be heard. It is becoming 
a common thing even now, for men, who by attendance 
on protracted religious meetings have had their interest 
awakened in the great subject, and are beginning to ponder 
the question of life and death, to get disgusted by the thrust- 
ing forth of some argument about baptism, or other secon- 



236 DISCOURSES. 

dary and unessential matter, so as to turn away from the 
whole subject of religion with contempt.* 

And this horrible fact is an illustration of the influence 
which sectarianism, in all its forms, is continually exerting 
upon the better disposed class of minds that have, under 
the Gospel, some tendency seriously to consider religious 
truth. 

And that it has this influence, I appeal to facts. How 
often does the newly converted man say, that the great 
thing which has kept him back from religion has been the 
divisions among Christians ! And how many times have 
you heard this objection in the mouths of the impenitent, 
if you have talked with them and urged them to attend to 
their spiritual concerns. 

I am not saying that this is a just or reasonable plea, or 
one that will excuse them in God's sight. Our subject is, 
not what ought to be, but what is. What influence is 
sectarianism exerting, and calculated to exert, upon the 
advancement of Christ's Kingdom in the world? 

But there is another influence in the same direction which 
we have not noticed ; or rather, it is the same influence 
acting upon a different class of minds. It strengthens in- 
fidels, and confirms doubters. 

All those, in whose minds doubt or disbelief is fixed, con- 
cerning the great ideas of judgment and retribution taught 
by Christianity, find comfort and courage in their unhappy 

* Isaac Taylor, on the supposition that the accomplished author of the trea- 
tise " On the Sublime" should read a certain letter of Dionysius of Alexandria 
respecting a point then in dispute, well remarks : " Must we not regard Longinus 
as almost excused, if he had cast away the epistle of Dionysius with indignant 
scorn, and have said, 'Is this your vaunted Christianity. Is it to maintain this 
system of servile frivolity that you die at the stake ? Do you ask me to become 
a Christian ? as well turn Jew ; and how much better remain philosopher !' " — 
Fanaticism; Of the Symbol. 



DISCOURSES. 237 

position by looking at the variant attitudes which believers 
assume towards each other. 

And, indeed, these opposing attitudes have a voice of lies 
and mischief, not only to unbelievers but to the whole world. 
They say, in effect, the salvation of the soul is not a mat- 
ter of so much importance that we can subordinate our 
doctrine of baptism, or of Divine decrees, or our claims of 
authority in the Church, in order to promote it by co- 
operation. 

And the error and mischief of such a declaration unbe- 
lievers will not only fully apprehend, but will magnify. 
And the influence of such a position on the part of Chris- 
tians, in causing men to reject the truth and demands of 
Christ, is immense. For, indeed, the number is not small 
of those who are doubting or denying the solemn teachings 
of Christianity concerning the future. They abound in 
every Sabbath congregation in our country, and out of the 
congregations the whole land is full of them ; and they are 
encouraged in their doubts and strengthened in their de- 
nials by the divisions of those who believe. 

It might be thought, indeed, that the divisions of Chris- 
tians on minor points would render their agreement on the 
great doctrines of the Bible a more serious and weighty at- 
testation of their truth. And if those differences were not 
made so much more of by the Church than this agreement, 
it would be so. But when Christians themselves thus 
prominently thrust up the former before men's eyes and 
subordinate the latter, they need not wonder if men who 
love not the solemn truth will take advantage of it. 

Closely allied, also, to this influence of which I have been 
speaking, is the tendency of that party spirit which by these 
divisions is created in the Church. The existence of such 



238 DISCOURSES. 

a spirit I have previously pointed out. If there is any- 
individual in the Church, who does not perceive its exis- 
tence and operation, I can assure him that such is not the 
case with most of those who stand outside. They are 
abundantly keen-sighted to perceive it, if not also evil-eyed 
to magnify it. And what a hardening and awful influence 
it must exert upon them. The wily manoeuvers of secta- 
rian zeal, the ad captandum appeals, the flattering atten- 
tions to children and youth, inflating them with the idea 
that they are wiser than their pious parents and all their 
other teachers — these works of the devil in the Church, 
which I have seen — O God ! have not unbelievers seen 
them too ? and have they not been learning to scorn Thy 
name, Thou holy Jesus, as if Thou couldst be the author 
of such things ? 

Who can measure the mischief and the ruin which this 
spirit of party, which its very selfishness, the essence of all 
wickedness, thus by the contrivance of Satan brought into 
the Church, and bringing dishonor upon its truth — who can 
measure the mischief and ruin it has wrought upon those 
who have witnessed it, and learned to disbelieve and dis- 
regard the great realities of Christ's Gospel, if not to con- 
temn His name ? 

But before we dismiss the point upon which we have been 
engaged, we must look at its bearing in another direction. 

There is a false Church in the world, calling itself Chris- 
tian, yet called by the word of God "the mother of harlots 
and abominations in the earth" Without raising the ques- 
tion, how many of its deluded children may yet be accept- 
ed in the sight of that God, who looks through all the forms 
of ignorance and error which circumstance have thrown 
around, to the heart that dwells within, it is a deeply in- 



DISCOURSES. 239 

teresting inquiry, How shall they be reached by the pure 
Gospel of Christ, and their hearts be opened to receive it ! 
Their number is so great as to make this a momentous 
question to all true Christians. 

The Pope, who certainly has the best means of judging, 
is said to estimate* the whole number of his church mem- 
bers at two hundred millions. But deducting one-sixth of 
this number, or thirty-three millions, for those who are 
really infidels in the Church, and for errors of calculation, 
we have remaining one hundred and sixty-seven millions. 

Better to understand how great a multitude this is, let 
us compare the number of members in the whole Protest- 
ant Christian Church. The whole number of inhabitants 
in nominally Protestant countries is set down at about 
eighty-two millions.* Twenty-one millions of these be- 
long to the United States. Out of these, however, only 
about three millions are church members ; but calling the 
number three and one half millions, they are one-sixth of 
the whole. Calculating the proportion of acting church 
members to the whole population the same throughout 
Protestant Christendom, it gives one-sixth of eighty-two, 
or thirteen and two-thirds millions for the whole. Twelve 
times this number are one hundred and sixty-four millions, 
or three millions less than our estimated number of Roman 
Catholics. That is to say, for every Protestant church 
member throughout the world there are twelve members of 
the Papal Church. 

The question, then, how they are to be evangelized, is 
one of immense moment to the Church. We have been 
considering the detriment done to the spread of Gospel re- 
ligion in the world by the divisions of Christians, as hold- 

* Baird's Christ. Retros. and Reg. Pages 196 and 197. 



240 DISCOURSES. 

ing up too prominently before men the secondary things 
about which they differ. But the bearing of this evil upon 
all the efforts that we are making, or can make, to en- 
lighten the children of the Pope, is incalculable. 

It is the powerful argument of the Romish priest with 
his followers : " There is no peace or rest out of the bosom 
of our Holy Mother. Protestants are divided into innu- 
merable sects, at war with each other ; and if you leave 
the Church you cannot tell where to go. All this division, 
and strife, and danger, are the inevitable result of forsaking 
the only true and infallible Church of St. Peter."* 

This is an argument, my friends, which it may be very 
easy to answer to our own satisfaction ; but it is hard to 
answer it to the conviction of the Papist. 

* The following passage from the most triumphant work of the Romanists, the 
" Variations of Protestantism," is a fair specimen of their argument. With slight 
alterations it might be retorted against the Romanists, — but it would be only so 
much the more true as against the Protestants. — [Ed. 

" The perverseness of heretics will be a great and instructing spectacle to the 
humble of heart. They will learn to despise the knowledge which puffs up, and 
that eloquence which dazzles ; and the talents which the world admires will ap- 
pear to them of little value, when they see such vain curiosities, such caprices in 
learned men, such dissimulation, such artifices in the most polite writers; so 
much vanity and ostentation, such dangerous illusions amongst those called men 
of wit; and finally, so much arrogance and passion, and consequently so many 
and so manifest errors, in m en that appear great, because they are followed by 
the crowd. They will deplore the errors of the human mind, and be convinced 
that the only remedy for these great evils is to break off all attachment to pri- 
vate judgment, for this it is which distinguishes Catholic from Heretic. The 
property of the Heretic, that is, of one who has a particular opinion, is, to be 
wedded to his own conceits: the property of the Catholic, that is, universal, is 
to prefer the general sense of the whole Church to his own sentiments ; this is 
the grace for which we shall petition in behalf of those that err. We shall, how- 
ever, be filled with a salutary and holy awe, when we contemplate the danger- 
ous and slippery temptations with which God tries His Church, and the judg- 
ments which He exercises on her ; nor shall we cease to pour forth prayers to 
obtain for her pastors equally enlightened and exemplary, since it is through 
want of them that the flock, which has been redeemed at so great a price, has 
been so universally ravaged."— Preface, § 29. 



D I OURSES. 241 

And it never can be so answered, by proclaiming with 
our tongues the essential unity of Protestants, while our 
actions still more loudly proclaim their diversity. 

So much, my friends, as regards the hurtful influence of 
sectarianism upon the advancement of religion, by dispro- 
portionately magnifying its secondary ideas. 

But it has a similar effect (secondly) by dividing the exter- 
nal means of the Church. 

Obstacles aside, the progress of the Gospel, under God, 
depends, first, on the piety of the Church ; and second, on 
the means which it has to employ. Granting that the 
piety of the Church were in no way injured by secta- 
rianism, yet are its means divided, and so wasted and 
weakened. 

Some argue, indeed, that the means of the Church are 
increased by division ; since individuals are often stimu- 
lated by it to greater exertion and more liberal giving. But 
while this latter is true, the inference made from it is 
not true. 

For, first, in reference to pecuniary means : we must 
take into account not only how much is raised, but how 
economically and effectively it is expended. 

Suppose in a certain village all the followers of Christ 
sufficiently harmonious in Christian purposes and feelings, 
to unite together for religious worship and mutual edifica- 
tion. They are able comfortably to build a house of wor- 
ship ample for all their wants, and competently to support 
a Gospel laborer in a manner which allows him leisure and 
means for necessary culture. The pecuniary ability of 
such a people, we may say, is well directed. 

But suppose another village, similar in all respects to 
the former, except that the people of Christ are divided, 



242 DISCOURSES. 

preferring different names^— some being of Paul, others of 
Apollos. Roused by emulation, they contribute a larger 
sum than the people of the former place ; but it is not so 
well expended. Two houses of worship are built, yet bur- 
dening the two churches with debt, and perhaps imper- 
fectly finished. Two ministers are employed, yet each with 
a salary insufficient for his physical and especially for his 
mental wants, so that he comes to his people, week by week, 
with the product of a starved and care-burdened mind, to 
their own intellectual and spiritual loss. 

Now, to say nothing of the comparative inability of such 
a people to contribute to the Gospel abroad, it is evident 
that their larger means are ill-spent and wasted, and pro- 
ductive of less good than was attained in the former case. 

But again, it is not money alone which constitutes the 
means of the Church ; it is men also — men of piety and 
talent sufficient to labor well in the Gospel ministry, and 
in other ways to promote the spread of truth and right- 
eousness. The cases already supposed will illustrate the 
waste of the Church's means in this direction, caused by 
the spirit of sect. In the first case, the life of one man is 
well and profitably used by the Church, and the other is 
spared for another needy field ; but in the latter case, the 
lives of two men are absorbed, and each half wasted or 
destroyed. 

And of such cases as this latter, my friends, both as to 
men and money, this Christian land is full. Only I have 
not stated the evil half so great as it is. Instead of two 
churches, there are four, and five, and six, where one 
would be sufficient, in multitudes of instances, all over the 
country. Instead of five or six churches in Elgin, one 
could be built, for less than half the means, amply sufficient 



DISCOURSES. 243 

for the use of all ; and two Gospel ministers, laboring to- 
gether, would be more efficient, both as preachers and as 
pastors, than five can be, divided — and the rest might go to 
the heathen. Oh ! the waste, the waste of energy and 
means, of which the Church is guilty, from this cause, 
while the world in ignorance and sin is perishing ! 

But I have something else to say, about this alleged in- 
crease of means which sectarianism produces. Allowing, 
indeed, the overruling power of God, yet I hold it as a 
general axiom, that the true prosperity of the Church is 
only in proportion to the effort which is put forth from 
pure motives. " My kingdom," said Jesus, " is not of this^ 
world ;" and He said to Peter, "Put up thy sword." The 
use of the civil power by the Church has been one of its great 
corrupters in past times. " The weapons of our warfare," 
said Paul, " are not carnal ;" and when carnal weapons are 
used, they tend to corruption. But what is sectarian or 
party zeal, and the money that it contributes, but carnal 
weapons'? — which cannot promote the cause of pure re- 
ligion. 

No ! the spirit of sect does but divide and waste the real 
means of the Church, and long postpone the day of its 
triumph. 

But before closing, let us notice one more way in which 
sectarianism operates to this end : 

(Thirdly.) By giving power to errorists ; or* those who deny 
or pervert the essential practical truths of the Gospel. 

You will be surprised, perhaps, to hear me say this. It 
is in order to condemn error, that many good men have 
thought it necessary to separate from their brethren. But 
this is one illustration of the Apostle's words, that " the 
foolishness of God is wiser than men." Like Saul of old, 



244 DISCOURSES. 

who disobediently spared the cattle of Amalek, that he 
might offer sacrifice to God, they have disobeyed the Di- 
vine command to mutual love, forbearance, and unity, that 
they might preserve His truth, though in non-essential 
matters ; and in so doing they have done more to encour- 
age and embolden vital error than all the enemies of God 
could ever do ; while all that they have done for the truth, 
or for their distinguishing ideas, is to give them the poor 
support of their human authority, contradicted by the sim- 
ilarly rendered human authority of thousands of others, of 
probably equal moral weight. 

But how is this, you will ask, that they embolden essen- 
tial errorists? I answer, among the multitude of sects 
thus created, they stand up with greater boldness and poiver. 

If all the true lovers of Christ, subordinating minor dif- 
ferences and putting aside their sectarian array, w r ere " of 
one heart and of one mind " on the great themes of the 
Gospel, which are truths of life and death, they would ex- 
ert a moral power that would be almost irresistible, and no 
pestilent error could stand before them. But now their 
moral power is weakened, not only by division, but also by 
mutual opposition, till scarcely anything of it remains ; and 
the denier of every fundamental verity of Christ's religion, 
proclaiming his impunity in sin and the efficacy of his hol- 
low forms, stands boldly by the side of other sects, and ex- 
claims, " Lo ! how we apples swim !" 

The Church, by its divisions, has lost the signet which 
its Master designed it to wear, and its power to testify for 
Him, and proclaim with authority to the world " the true 
and living way." It is true that the sects thus seek to do 
still, but the world cannot so readily distinguish amid the 
voices, and discern the true. Men of every hue of char- 



DISCOURSES. 245 

acter, and of every conglomerate of monstrous ideas, may 
now stand up and claim the Christian name, and there is 
no moral power in the Church to cry scorn upon them till 
the world shall hear. Thus is the cause of our Redeemer 
kept back, by the power which is given to wicked men to 
usurp His name and lead souls astray. Thus does the 
rending of Christ's body destroy its growth, and leave men 
to perish in their sin. 

Is it not time that the Church should awake to the mis- 
chief it is doing itself, by its human wisdom, in disobe- 
dience to the commands of Christ its Lord ? Is it not time 
it should be willing to sacrifice all unessential things, rather 
than lose the " unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," 
and the moral power of a holy and united people 1 Is it 
not time to cease their mutual strife, that so " all the build- 
ing, fitly framed together" may grow " unto an holy temple 
in the Lord !" 



DISCOURSE XVII. 



Evils of Sectarianism. 

1 Cor. xn. 24, 25, 26, 27; Eph.vi.4; John xiii. 35 ; Gal. v. 15; 
1 Cor. iii 4 ; 1 John iv. 21 ; 1 JoAn iii. 18. "God hath tempered 
the body together, that there should be no schism in the body ; 
but that the members should have the same care one for anoth- 
er. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer 
with it ; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice ivith 
it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particu- 
lar." " There is one body, and one spirit ; even as ye are call- 
ed in one hope of your calling." " By this shall all men know 
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another " 
" But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be 
not consumed one of another." " While one saith, I am of 
Paul; and another, I am of Ap olios ; are ye not carnal?" 
" This commandment have we from Him, that he vjho loveth 
God, loveth his brother also." " My little children, let us not 
love in vjord, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 

Vain, useless — nay, false, is that love which does not 
manifest itself in love's appropriate action. If divisions 
among the people of Christ are the fruit and the evidence 
of carnality of mind, and tend to pull down rather than to 
build up ; if there is one body as well as one spirit, and that 
the body of Christ, of which all Christians are members in 
particular ; and if God hath tempered the body together, 
designing that there should be no schism therein, but thai 



DISCOURSES. 24? 

part should balance part, with mutual care and sympathy, 
working together for the greatest results, — then it is plain 
what the appropriate action of brotherly love is, or at least, 
involves; and how the people of Christ should evidence 
to the world that they are His disciples. Thus have the 
passages of Scripture now read introduced to us a fourth 
principle, showing, by opposition, how sectarianism keeps 
back the triumph of the Gospel by hiding and depressing the 
essential, peculiar spirit of Christ and His religion, and weak- 
ening its self-evidencing power before the world* 

The spirit of this world is one of selfishness — as all men 
know — manifesting itself more or less in a spirit of rivalry 
and contention. At least, these are the legitimate exercise 
of the natural temper of man's heart. But the spirit of 
Christ and His Gospel, on the other hand, is a spirit of love, 
wholly opposed to rivalry or selfish contention in any of 
its forms. And this spirit of love is the great power of the 
Gospel to subdue the hearts of men and spread its triumphs 
among them. It is an evidence of the superhuman char- 
acter and origin of that Gospel, which appeals at once to 
every man's conscience, and the most accessible point of 
his nature. Allow me to relate an occurrence, of which 
you perhaps have read, as a fitting and needful illustration 
here. 

During the progress of a revival in one of the villages 
of our country, an aged Christian called at the shop of a 
blacksmith, who was known as a confirmed infidel, to con- 
verse with him on the subject of religion. The hardened 
man was familiar with all the weapons of his infidel war- 
fare, and skillful in their use, so that the poor old man, 
when he reached the shop, after much and earnest prayer 
for him, trembled and knew not what to do. At last, 



248 DISCOURSES. 

standing by the forge, he could only say, while the tears 
ran down his venerable cheeks, u Sir, I am concerned for 
your soul's salvation — I am concerned for your soul's sal- 
vation." Saying this, he went away, to engage again in 
prayer in his behalf. The unbeliever felt the force of this 
appeal, and after the aged Christian was gone he could not 
banish it from his mind. And the more he thought upon 
it the more strange it seemed to him, and unlike anything 
of man's natural character, as he well understood it. The 
consciousness of his own utter unlikeness to such a char- 
acter came upon him, till at last it humbled him in peniten- 
tial prostration before God ; and in calling upon Christ he 
found peace. Going now to the place where Christians 
were assembled for prayer, he stood up among them and 
told how God had led him to the Saviour, and filled him 
with joy in believing. And referring to his infidel argu- 
ments, and how they were all foiled by the old man's sim- 
ple words : " Oh," said he, " I could answer anything but 
that man's concern for my soul." 

Yes, he could answer anything, or thought that he could 
— save the argument of love : but that conquered him ! And, 
my hearers, it is that argument that is wanting to conquer 
the world : and it is able to do it ! 

Love, I say, is the great argument and power of the Gos- 
pel to subdue the world unto itself. Christ said of Him- 
self, "if I be lifted up" — that is, if I make that exhibition 
of my love for the world which I propose to do, by dying 
for it — " I shall draw all men unto me :" all who behold 
me there will feel the mightiest appeal which can be made 
to the human heart to come to God. And the whole his- 
tory of the Church has proved this. It was love that con- 
quered Paul, and made him such a shining light ; — first 



DISCOURSES. 249 

among the followers of Jesus ! and it has been the great 
power of the Gospel ever since. 

But we know that in order to bring this spirit of the 
Gospel to bear upon men, it must be exhibited to them in 
the person of Christ's followers ; as in the case just now 
related. It is only when the Church possesses and is ac- 
tuated by this spirit, that it is brought to bear upon the 
world in any adequate degree, and with adequate force : 
for few would otherwise know aught of the love of Christ ; 
and though all should know it by the hearing of the ear, 
they need to see His spirit exhibited in a living form 
before them, fully to feel its power. 

But sectarianism is the greatest foe to its exhibition which 
God has ever suffered Satan to beget. It hinders brotherly 
love among Christians, and regard for the souls of men. 
It is vain for brethren in Christ to talk about the duty of 
loving one another, and to try to feel love for one another, 
while they refuse to act as love dictates. Their actions 
will control their hearts, as men's acts always do in the 
end. The fences which they set up between them in fact 
will be fences between them in feeling. And that it is now 
even so, every Christian knows. 

The fact is, worse than setting up hindrances to broth- 
erly love, the divisions of Christ's people beget and stimu- 
late continually that opposite spirit of rivalry and conten- 
tion which is the spirit of this world ; so that instead of 
saying of the Church, as was once said in the days of her 
rapid triumphs, " see how these Christians love one an- 
other," it is now said, by many who look upon her, " see 
how these Christians rival and are jealous of each other;" 
and thus is the light of the Gospel dimned, and its pecu- 
liar power destroyed. 

12 



250 DISCOURSES. 

It is true there are some who can and do overcome these 
tendencies to evil ; but many — not most — do not. But if 
all did, what advantage would the inward feeling be, while 
their actions proclaim to the world their variance? I 
grant that some may not intend variance of feeling by sep- 
arating themselves from their brethren ; but it is the na- 
tural language of the act, and so the world read it. And 
so reading it, were there no greater cause, the peculiar 
spirit of the Gospel would be hid to them, and its power 
taken away. But there is a greater cause. That spirit of 
love is not only in a great measure hidden from the world, 
but it is in a great measure destroyed. Jealousy and conten- 
tious strife have been in too many instances^ or to too large 
an extent, brought in to take its place ; so that the religion 
of Jesus has been wounded in the house of her friends, and 
the right arm of her strength torn from her bleeding side. 
And hoiv much is lost to the cause of our Eedeemer by this 
means, we can hardly stretch our thoughts far enough to 
measure. If all Christians by their mutual love were now 
commending the Gospel to the world as they did in primi- 
tive times, I believe we should see the Church advancing 
with primitive rapidity. And though we should not charge 
all the deficit to the score of sects, yet there is enough 
chargeable there to make the account a fearful one. 

But I have said that the exhibition of love to souls out 
of the Church is hindered .by the same cause. It is so be- 
cause the selfish spirit of sectarianism appeals more pal- 
pably and powerfully to the depraved heart of man, than 
does a benevolent love for the unseen and future good of 
others, and so tends constantly to usurp its place. And 
so much has that sectarian desire of gaining converts to 
one's own party manifested itself to the world, that it has 






DISCOURSES. 251 

cast suspicion in many places upon the labors of all Chris- 
tians ; and thus, besides taking from them the power of 
that appeal to man's better feelings which Christian love 
is calculated to make, it has placed a heavy obstacle in 
their way. Nor can we wonder at the strength of such 
suspicions, when we sometimes see the members of a sect 
more laborious and diligent in proselyting to themselves 
those who are already Christians, than they ever are in 
gaining lost souls from sin to holiness, and from death to 
life. It requires a hard strain, in fact, on any man's charity, 
ever to give such persons credit for genuine love to man's 
spiritual interests. And while sectarianism is begetting 
such fruits in the Church, the peculiar spirit of the Gos- 
pel, in which its great power lies, must ever be largely hid- 
den and lost. 

Nor does the evil stop here. Kindred to this, I may per- 
haps say, is the hindrance which the sectarian sundering 
of believers causes — 

z Fifthly, By grieving the Spirit of God. 

: That it does do this has been, I think, sufficiently shown. 
And this being proved, the conclusion which you will all 
admit, follows sufficiently plain. Want of time will there- 
fore lead me to pass hastily over this topic, though it is one of 
such mighty weight as ought to make the Church of Christ 
tremble and weep at the good she has 'destroyed. When 
she looks abroad over the world, and groans to see the 
wickedness and misery which the Gospel has not yet reach- 
ed, and wonders that God's Spirit of power is withheld 
from the work which it might do, let her remember how 
that holy and peaceful Spirit has been grieved away, and 
is yet grieved, by her unholy strifes. But, 

Sixthly, Sectarianism hinders the progress or advancement 



252 DISCOURSES, 

of the Churchy in the world, by hindering her progress in the 
truth. 

It is unquestionable that the slowness of the Church in 
the latter, is one of the great reasons why she is not more 
rapid in the former. That there is much error mixed 
with all our systems of theology, cannot be denied by any 
one without arrogance : for there are many conflicting 
systems, so that many errors exist somewhere ; and it would 
be absurd to charge them all upon one, and equally arro- 
gant to claim for another exemption from the whole. But 
error mixed with Gospel truth, obscures its light, and hin- 
ders its power. 

It remains, then, that we show how sectarianism hinders 
progress in the truth. This will not be hard to do. It 
does so, first, by prompting prejudice. In a vast majority 
of cases, personal influences, or some external circumstances 
rather than previous doctrinal views, determine the sect to 
which a convert unites himself. By so uniting, however, 
he commits himself to the views of that sect, and that be- 
fore he really understands what they are. His attention 
is too much occupied with the great truths of Christianity, 
which have given him hope and life, to think particularly 
at present on secondary matters. 

But he has committed himself with unquestioning do- 
cility to receive the instructions of those whom he looks 
upon as his elders and teachers in the Lord ; and they are 
all prepared to administer their theological nostrums, in the 
shape of a creed or in some other way, to his receptive 
mind. Once swallowed, whether understood or not, it 
must be stood to against all who impugn, because it is 
the doctrine of '' our Church." This spirit of party ex- 
ercises an unresisted influence to mould the mind into all 



DISCOURSES. 253 

the peculiarities of the sect, and complete the work of in- 
doctrination. Henceforth, when the Bible is read and 
studied, it is not seen with open and natural eyes, but 
through the spectacles which the mind has put on. Scrip- 
ture passages have received a stamped interpretation before 
they are examined in their proper connection in the Scrip- 
tures themselves ; and the consequence is, a stereotyped 
Bible and a stereotyped brain. But little new light is to 
be expected to the Church from minds thus fashioned. I 
have some knowledge, my friends, of the things of which 
I have spoken, for I have been put through this mill. 

Again, by the process spoken of, the mind has learned to 
rest its belief too much on human authority, and too little 
on evidence ; and this is a habit in itself most destructive 
to progress. It needs no argument or illustration to show 
that those who are accustomed to look, for their establish- 
ment in truth, rather upon what has received the suffrages 
of many others than upon the evidence which it offers, can 
add nothing to the stock which the Church possesses. And 
is not this the case with the great majority of Christians ? 
I believe it is. And it is largely owing, as has been already 
shown, to the evil of which I am speaking. 

Again, sectarianism affords its votaries so much to do 
in defending themselves against rival and opposing sects, 
as leaves them little opportunity for calm investigation, and 
so diminishes the probability of their clearing their minds 
of error, and advancing in true knowledge. It promotes 
discussion, it is true ; but it promotes discussion, not among 
simple inquirers after truth, as might otherwise be the case, 
but among defenders of established systems, whose rank, 
and influence, and emoluments depend on their success in 
that defense. How much likelihood there is among such 



254 DISCOURSES. 

disputants of throwing away errors, and gaining new ideas 
from God's Word, let such as know human kind judge. 

But the great fact concerning the hindrance to progress 
which the divisions of the Church create, is yet to come. 

Theology is the product, not of the mind of the Church 
in general — not of the united wisdom of the people of God— - 
but of a few leading minds in the min ; stry ; and that greatly 
in past ages. Certain individuals, favored by circumstances 
or mental gifts, have issued their systems of Scripture in- 
terpretation, and established sects. They have found fol- 
lowers, as every body can in this world ; and very many 
of them have had sufficient Gospel truth in their systems 
to convert souls, and do much good. The sect becoming 
established, it has power. The people in general have lit- 
tle opportunity or taste for theological investigation, but 
are attached to their fathers, and teachers in the Gospel, 
and through them to the tenets which they hold. If any 
progress is to come, it must come through the ministry. 
They are dependent, however, on the sect as a whole; and 
the sect has power to sustain and honor such as fall in with 
its established lines. Of all these lines, however, it is from 
the nature of sects, peculiarly and strictly tenacious. He 
who departs from them in the least will be cast out. And 
if cast out, where shall he go ? There are none to take 
him up and sustain him, for sects are the order of the day ; 
and because he differs a little from one he will not there- 
fore be received by others which are still more variant. He 
must, therefore, either renounce the ministry, and so lose 
his principal opportunity of advancing the Church, and 
doing the good which his soul desires, or else he must keep 
the new truth which God has given him to himself. 

There are enough in the ministry who are bigoted sec- 



DISCOURSES. 255 

tarists, loving their place and power to watch all the rest, 
and cry Heresy ! Heresy ! the moment a new idea is heard, 
evolved from the Gospel of Christ. 

And whe i we see how the ministry are trained, we 
can expect but little disposition in them, in general, to 
meddle with existing sectarian fixtures. 

A young man, with his heart filled with the love of 
Christ, and of his fellow- men, resolves to study for the 
ministry. He is already the member of a sect, and dis- 
posed to its particular views. He naturally goes, there- 
fore, to one of the theological schools of his denomination. 
He finds there that the law of the Medes and Persians has 
been laid down — the creed, in all its ramifications and 
twdgifieations, is graven on steel ; and lest the venerable 
and long established teachers should, by some accident, get 
a new idea in the progress of time, they are required at 
stated periods of a year or two (this is actually the cus- 
tom*) to give a solemn pledge in no wise to depart there- 
from. 

It is under such training as this, that the ministry in 
general is formed. This, somewhat, accounts for uniformity 
within the walls of a sect. 

But after all, the young man may be somewhat indepen- 
dant in his mind, and not disposed to receive so implicitly 
the dicta of his teachers — and what then % 

Why, then he is plied with a cannonade of arguments 
from those old and practised artillerists ; and if he is still 
so keen-sighted and strong as to ward the bullets, and stand 
his ground, he is gravely told, those are the views of the 
institution and the Church, and he must submit, or there 

* But custom, not only without reason, but almost -without authority, as we 
attempt to show at the close of the volume. — [Ed, 



256 DISCOURSES. 

is no proper place for him there, nor will the pulpits of the 
Church be opened to receive him. I am not supposing a 
case, my friends. I am relating facts which have occurred. 

Thus it is, my hearers, that sectarianism does destroy 
that Christian liberty which is essential to the candid in- 
vestigation of the Scriptures, and without which, the pro- 
gress of the Church, in truth, must be slow and difficult, 
and therefore, its triumph be postponed.* 

Seventh. But the seventh and final reason which I will 
offer, for the detriment done to the spread of religion by the 
divisions of Christ's people, is the injury ivhich these do to 
their piety. 

That injury arises, as I have already shown, from many 
of the same causes which operate directly against the ad- 
vancement of the Church abroad: — from the too great 
prominence given to secondary and non-practical truths 
in the minds of the Church ; from the idol of party thus 
created, and dividing the heart from Christ ; from the false 
churches and false professors thus originated or sustained, 
and debasing the standard of religion by their unworthy 
example ; from the hindrance to progress in understanding 

* "Factions, moreover, benumb the expansive powers of Christianity, and 
prevent its spread. They create, too, a universal confusion, entanglements, and 
perversion of religious notions. No inquiry can be calmly prosecuted, no result 
of solitary meditation can be safely reported, nothing can be looked at in its na- 
tive form, so long as the jealousies and the interests of eight or ten ancient 
and corporate factions spread themselves over the field of theology. Even 
those few insulated articles of Christian belief or speculation, or of abstruse 
science, which have not been claimed by party zeal, are often found to alarm the 
wakeful fears of this or that guardian of sectarianism, merely because the meth- 
od of argument which may have been employed in such instances is foreseen 
to have a bearing upon matters that are held to be inviolable. The opinion in it- 
self may be innocent enough; but the logic that sustains it is dangerous. Bet- 
ter then quash at once the suspicious novelty, which, though it may be good 
and true, is not momentous, than favor it. and so open the door to no one can 
say what innovations V-*— Taylor. Nat. Hist, of Fanaticism; of the Symbol. — [Ed. 



DISCOURSES. 257 

the Scriptures, as just treated ; and finally, from doing 
despite to the Spirit of Grace, grieving the heavenly Dove 
from the bosoms where rivalry and contention are made 
to enter. Not only do these causes operate directly against 
the conquest at which the Church is aiming, but by injur- 
ing its piety, they do more perhaps than in any other way 
to keep back its triumphs. 

It is by their own nearness to God, their own likeness 
to Christ, that the members of Christ's body must give 
power to the truth they proclaim to subdue the world unto 
Him. If the Church itself were as well advanced in 
piety as it should be, the cause of our Kedeemer would 
roll on with lightning speed. And how incalculable the 
mischief which the unhappy divisions of Christ's people are 
doing by operating against this ! Oh ! that the Church 
might awaken to its error, and strive for some method of 
deliverance ! 

I have now endeavored — knowing how many prejudices 
I may assail, but determined to cast from me the fear of 
man ; for my position in the ministry is not worth to me a 
straw, unless I can speak forth out of my heart what God 
puts in it — I have endeavored to show you some of the 
workings of this giant evil, which I have called Sectarian- 
ism. I do not mean by this, as is often meant, the spirit 
of separation, but separation itself, And have I not shown 
you abundant reasons to substantiate the proposition with 
which I set out 1 May we not well conclude, in view of 
all these mournful facts, that this evil is a mighty injury 
to the piety of the Church, and perhaps the greatest single 
enemy to her conquest of the world ; seeing the Gospel of 
Christ is fitted to save our race unto the uttermost, and 

12* 



258 DISCOURSES. 

nothing is wanting but that the Church should adequately 
exemplify and present it to their minds and hearts ? 

Think not that it has been to me an altogether pleasing 
task, to speak evil of the Church I love — of the people of 
Christ to whom I belong. 

My heart has groaned as, pen in hand, I have looked at 
this subject, arranging my thoughts to present them to you. 
Is the Church of Christ altogether corrupt and worthless? 
No, no — no, no! she abounds in holy hearts, and she is 
doing a mighty and a blessed work. But she has spots on 
her garments still. And when we turn our eyes to her 
better traits, we may so hide those spots that they will seem 
small ; but when we look steadily at them they seem large 
enough. For, indeed, they are large enough — too large, 
too large, my friends, to behold without sighing and tears. 
Oh ! when shall the blessed Spirit of our Master come — that 
Spirit which is love — and heal our wounds J ? When shall 
He walk upon this tossing sea, and say, " Peace ! be still ?" 

The subject presents matter for the serious inquiries and 
prayers of every Christian. Thanks to God, there is the 
beginning of a better spirit abroad in the Churches. The 
attempted World's Alliance at London a few years ago grew 
out of it. What though that failed ? the spirit has not 
failed. Thousands of Christians all over the land feel it. 
Churches are springing up which reject it — or mean to — 
though some of them do not see how. Many Christians 
■ are holding off from all connection with churches on ac- 
count of it. (I do not say they should: let them judge.) 

Bible, and Tract, and Sunday School-societies have 
sprung up, which are living repudiations of it, and great 
standing proofs before all the Church, that it is abso- 
lutely necessary in some degree to depart from it. 



DISCOURSES. 259 

But though all these things are true, the evil exists still 
in prodigious vigor. The better spirit which pervades the 
Church so largely has not availed in general to change 
those practices by which it is kept alive, and the instances 
in which it has availed are lost among the multitude. 

The evil still exists and is multiplying ; and it becomes 
all those who love Christ and his cause, to study the sub- 
ject, and pray over it. The Apostle Paul evidently 
thought such a state of things altogether needless. He 
exhorted the Corinthians to be "joined together in the 
same mind." And he - adjured them to this in the most 
solemn manner — " by the name of our Christ." 

In His name, also, will I adjure you, my Christian friends. 

If in all that I have said, there are some things to which 
you cannot assent — which would not be strange — yet the 
reality and the greatness of that evil which I have tried to 
exhibit, you cannot deny. And though no other reasons 
could be found for deprecating these divisions among the 
followers of our common Lord, it is sufficient that they are 
opposed, to the spirit of our holy religion, and a grief (I am 
warranted in saying it by the spirit of His own prayer) a grief 
to our Divine Redeemer. 

In His name then I beseech you, ponder and pray upon 
this matter, and away with this evil from your hearts. 
And see to it that ye love your brethren, " not in word" 
merely, " neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth" 

The Lord give us wisdom to direct, and grace to do, in 
His appointed way. 



APPENDIX. 



ANALYSIS OF FAITH, 



Subjectively, Faith or Belief is of three kinds : simple 
or historical, 'practical or voluntary, and non-voluntary. 

Trust or Confidence is of three kinds : simple or emotive, 
practical or voluntary, and non-voluntary. 

Simple or historical faith or belief is the assent of the un- 
derstanding, when no action on the subject is possible, or 
is practically believed to be at present unnecessary (as the 
unrepenting man's faith in future punishment). 

Simple or emotive trust or confidence is the feeling of the 
mind which responds to the assent of the understanding to 
any truth (generally used, however, in reference to truth 
in which the mind feels satisfaction or pleasurable emotion). 

Voluntary or practical faith or belief, trust or confidence, is 
complex ; comprising the assent of the understanding, the 
act or state of the will corresponding, and the feeling of 
trust or confidence. But, practical faith or belief denotes 
this idea without prominent reference to either of its ele- 
ments ; though such a reference may arise from the circum- 
stances of its use ; and originally the word itself contained 
a prominent reference to the assent of the understanding 






APPENDIX. 261 

Practical trust or confidence denotes this idea with prominent 
reference to the feeling or emotion. 

By non-voluntaiy Faith, Belief, Trust or Confidence, I 
denote the use of the words when they are employed in- 
discriminately to signify the assent of the understanding, 
and the corresponding emotion. 

A more philosophical division of the above will be : 
Faith is of two kinds : involuntary and voluntary. 

I. Involuntary, two kinds; (a) simple, (b) compound 
(i e. "non-voluntary.") 

II. Voluntary or practical. 

The three main points maintained by our author, and 
indicated in the above analysis, may be briefly stated thus : 
Faith, in the sense in which it is a duty and a condition of 
salvation, is, 1, Rational; 2, it is Voluntary; 3, it is 
Moral. It is opposed neither to Reason, Work, nor Emo- 
tion, bnt includes them all. It is the synthesis of Thought, 
Feeling and Act. And because it is the harmony of these, 
it tends, when directed to its proper object, to the highest 
development of man's being. 

This view of Faith, we think, best meets a triple error 
that appears in the history of the Church, and a corres- 
ponding triple scepticism in the world. We offer here a 
few extracts, to show how urgent occasion there has been 
for the views taken by our author, and at the same time to 
give them such support as may be found in the opinions of 
thinking men. — [Ed. 



NOTE A. 



THAT FAITH IS RATIONAL. 

How Faith has been opposed to Reason. — Clement of Alex- 
andria speaks of the faith which " the Greeks do slander, as an 
empty and barbarian folly." Titans <5e fjv 6ia6d\\ovai Ktvhv koX 
fiapSapov vojjii&vTes "E\\r)v£$. — Strom. 1. ii. c. 2. Rufinus says that 
" the pagans commonly object that our religion, because it seems 
deficient in reasons, consists in a mere disposition to believe." — 
Pagani nobis objicere solent, quod religio nostra, quia quasi ra- 
tionibus deficit, in sola credendi persuasione consistat.— In 
Symb. 

Origen, in his work against Celsus, alludes to such charges 
as these : " Do not examine, but believe." " Believe, if you 
wish to be saved, or be gone." M*7 e^sra^s, d\\a itUrzvoov. lita- 
revaov, si owdrjvai O&sig, n avidi. And in a work ascribed to Athana- 

sius : AeX^de, Qqa-lv, ajrXcog to. Xeyofxeva, koI {xr)6elg e^era^fro) ri irpe-nov 
kv olvtoTs r\ ri dirpeneg 1 kolI tvLgtiv 6von6X,ei tyiv dSavavioTOv kiri roT$ acnarois 
KOl avanodeLKTOi jew /?Xa% avyKarddsanv. — Opp. torn, ii., p. 581, ed. 

Benedict. 

The " certum est quia impossibile est," of Tertullian, is well 
known. Yet even he, in controverting error, gives faith its 
proper rational basis. " Aut proba esse quae credis, aut si non 
probas, quomodo credis V — Adv. Marc, v. 1. 

Julian, cited by Gregory Nazianzen : 'Hrniirepoi, (prjalv, ol \6yoi 

kclI to eWrjvtreiv, <hv kolI to aeStiv deovg : v^dv 6e i] dXoyia, ical q dypoucia, 
teal ov&ev virlp to, TIlotsvcov , Trjg Vfxerepas ectI vo(pia$. 

See also Arnobius, cited above, page . Extended replies 

to these cavils were made by Eusebius, Praepar. Evangel. 1. i. 
Augustine, Ad Honoratum, De Utilitate Credendi ; Theodo- 
ret, Serm. I. De Fide contra Graecos. 



APPENDIX. 263 

The history of the degradation of faith to blind irrationality, 
during the Middle Ages, would make a volume of itself. This 
subject is intimately connected with the misapplication of the 
term " mystery," and the extension and abuse of the idea of 
mystery ; with the false doctrine of justice, or right, as based 
upon mere omnipotent will or power ; with the doctrine and 
practice of the pious fraud, and of compulsion in religious mat- 
ters, and of ceremonial or irrational devices for salvation ; and 
with the doctrine of uniformity in opinion, and hence of im- 
plicit faith, as necessary to salvation. 

This last tenet, which of course subverts all right of private 
judgment, is thus stated by the most profound of the late Ro- 
manist divines, Dr. Moehler : " He who establishes his fait* 1 
on Scripture, viz., on the results to which his Biblical researches 
have led him, has no faith — does not know at all what faith 
is."— Symbolism, Ch. v., Art. 39. 

Between this bold Irrationalism, and the Neology which 
would make God's admitted testimony no better than each man's 
opinion, nominal Protestantism has furnished every shade of 
doctrine, simply because under that name the various natures of 
men have found free scope. It would be strange, indeed, if the 
example of noble men within the Romish Church, and various 
motives furnished by its remaining power, had not produced a 
repetition of its errors beyond its pale, It still remains for 
Protestants generally to find that just view of faith which shall 
stand against all objections, either of Romanist or Rationalist. 

Testimonies to Faith as Rational. — Most earnestly did the 
early Christian writers combat the prejudice that faith was op- 
posed to reason, though it might be in advance of knowledge. 
Thus Clement of Alexandria : " Believing in the Logos, whom 
we term our Master, consists in- obedience to His precepts, 
withstanding Him in nothing ; for how, indeed, can we with- 
stand God ? Knowledge, therefore, is faith, and faith is knowl- 
edge ; for by some divine arrangement they mutually lead and 
are led by each other, in perfect companionship." And then, 



264 APPENDIX. 

citing Epicurus' doctrine of npdXrjipig (conjecture, or anticipa- 
tion,) he says : " If faith, then, be nothing more than this 
TrpdXrjxpig of the understanding as to the things spoken, and this 
be obedience, and if intelligence of the matter be persuasion, — 
then no one learns without faith, because none can learn with- 
out this fore-feeling ; and thus what the prophet says (Isa. vii. 
9) is shown to be true : ' Unless ye believe ye cannot under- 
stand ;' and thus, too, Heraclitus the Ephesian has paraphrased 
the same idea, saying, ' Unless a man hopes, he will not find 
what he did not hope.' " — Stromata, 1. ii., c. 4. In chapter 5, 
Clement speaks of repentance as " the good work of faith," — 
of" hope as springing from faith,"— and of faith as " the found- 
ation of love." 

In the "Apostolical Constitutions," even when full-grown and 
past their early simplicity, we find a blessing for him who be- 
lieves, not with blind un-reason, but with judgment and full 

Conviction : f O ravra iria-revaag ovx cnr\6)£ ovtf dXSycjg, dXka Kpiati koI 
it\ripo(popiq Xapicrna e1\r](pev ek Qeov. — viii. 1. 

Lactantius ridicules the pagans for following the religious 
customs for which they pretended no better authority than an- 
cestral example and tradition, {Inst. Div., 1. ii., c. 6,) and con- 
cludes : " Quare oportet, in ea re maxime in qua vitae ratio 
versatur, sibi quemque confidere, suoque judicio ac propriis sen- 
sibus niti ad investigandam et perpendendam veritatem, quam 
credentem alienis erroribus decipi, tanquam ipsum rationis ex- 
pertem. Dedit omnibus Deus pro virili portione sapientiam,ut 
et inaudita investigare possent, et audita perpendere." — C. 7. 

The views of Maximus, in the seventh century, " a man dis- 
tinguished for acuteness and profundity of intellect," are thus 
stated by Neander : " The Holy Spirit works not wisdom in 
the saints without a mind which is susceptible of it ; — it works 
not knowledge, without a recipient faculty of reason ; it works 
not faith, without a rational conviction respecting- the future 
and the invisible ; it works not the gift of miraculous healing, 
without a natural philanthropy ; and, in a word, it produces no 



APPENDIX. 265 

charisma whatsoever, without the recipient faculty for each." — 
Chh. Hist., Trans, by Torrey, vol. iii., p. 173. * d 

" Duns Scotus was the first who [in the mediaeval times] man- 
ifested a leaning towards Christian Rationalism, and a union be- 
tween it and Supernaturalism, by considering true religion and 
true philosophy as one and the same thing, and by looking for 
the true source of religious knowledge in himself — i. e., in his 
rational consciousness. But he did not deny the necessity of 
a positive revelation which has come from without." — Hagen- 
bach, Hist, of Doc, § 158. "He may, in a certain sense, be 
called the author of Rationalism ; but his Rationalism is very 
different from, and forms the strongest contrast with, that per- 
verse form of Rationalism which exists at the present day." — 
Staudenmaier, cited by Hagenbach. 

" The use of reason in spiritual things, and the latitude 
thereof, are very great and general ; for it is not for nothing 
that the Apostle calleth religion our reasonable service of God, 
insomuch as the very ceremonies and figures of the old Law 
were full of reason and signification, much more than the cere- 
monies of idolatry and magic, that were full of non-significants 
and surd characters. * But most especially the Christian faith, 
as in all things, so in this, deserveth to be highly magnified, 
holding and preserving the golden mediocrity in this point, be- 
tween the law of the heathen and the law of Mahomet, which 
have embraced the two extremes. For the religion of the hea- 
then had no constant belief or confession, but left all to the lib- 
erty of argument ; and the religion of Mahomet, on the other 

* Neander says of the works of Maximus : " The grand features of a coherent 
system may be discovered in them, together with many fruitful and pregnant 
ideas, which, if he had developed himself and acted his part under more favor- 
able circumstances, [he was opposed, banished, recalled to be scourged and his 
tongue cut out, and again banished, for his opinion?.] — might have been the 
means of leading himself and others to an original construction of the Chris- 
tian system of faith and morals. He was also distinguished for his zeal in en- 
deavorirjg to promote a vital, practical Christianity, flowing out of the disposition 
of the heart, in opposition to dead faith and outward works." — Page 171. 



266 APPENDIX. 

side, interdicteth argument altogether : the one having the very- 
face of error, and the other of imposture ; whereas the Chris- 
tian faith doth both admit and reject disputation with differ- 
ence." — Bacon, Advancement of Learning. 

"As to its nature [faith] doth involve knowledge, knowledge 
of most worthy and important truths, knowledge peculiar and 
not otherwise attainable, knowledge in way of great evidence 

and assurance." " Faith implieth a good use of reason." 

"It was a foul aspersion cast upon our religion by its 

ancient opposer, that it did require \pi\hv kolI akoyov tz'iotiv, a 
mere belief, void of reason; challenging assent to rts doctrines 
without any trial or proof." — Barrow, on the Creed ; Sermon 
I., on Faith. 

" Whatever theories may be conceived in regard to the man- 
ner of inspiration — visions, voices, internal impulses — the rea- 
son of the individual must be convinced of its reality, else it 
could not be distinguished from insanity. Every thing not 
reasonable, either in itself, or by virtue of the ground upon 
which we accept it, is absurd. Revelation can have no au- 
thority for a rational being, till reason has recognized it as 
such." — /. Blanco White, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Letter III. 

" That faith which is counted for righteousness, consists, not 
in believing without evidence, but in being open to evidence : 
in candidly and patiently weighing the reasons ; and in resolv- 
ing to receive and acknowledge whatever there is good ground 
for believing, however contrary it may be to our expectations, 
wishes, and prejudices." — Whately, Scrip. Rev. of a Fut. State, 
ch. xi. 

" Faith and reason, when the matter is rightly understood , 
are by no means the opposites of each other True faith and 
right reason always have harmonized, always will harmonize. 
The conflict, which from time to time takes place, is in appear- 
ance and not in reality ; is relative, and not absolute." — 
TJpham, Life of Faith, P. I., ch. xiv. 

" If to the faith of which the New Testament speaks so 



APPENDIX. 267 

much, a peculiar blessing is promised, it is evident from that 
same volume that it is not a ' faith without reason ' any more 
than a ' faith without works,' which is commended by the 
Author of Christianity." — Henry Rogers, Reason and Faith. 

The following, from Dr. Arnold, may well complete this part 
of the discussion : 

" Faith and reason are often invidiously contrasted with each 
other, as if they were commonly described in Scripture as an- 
tagonists ; whereas faith is more properly opposed to sight or 
to lust, being in fact a very high exercise of the pure reason ; 
inasmuch as we believe truths which our senses do not teach 
us, and which our passions would have us, therefore, reject, be- 
cause those truths are taught by Him in whom reason recog- 
nizes its own author, the infallible source of all truth. 

" It were better to oppose reason to passion than to faith ; for 
it may be safely said, that he who neglects his reason, and so 
far as he neglects it, does not lead a life of faith afterwards, but 
a life of passion 

" Faith may be described as reason leaning upon God. With- 
out God, reason is either overpowered by sense and understand- 
ing, and, in a manner, overgrown, so that it cannot apprehend 
its proper truths ; or being infinite, it cannot discover all the 
truths which concern it, and therefore needs a further revela- 
tion to enlighten it. But with God's grace strengthening it to, 
assert its supremacy over sense and understanding, and com- 
municating to it what of itself it could not have discovered, it 
then having gained strength and light not its own, and doing 
and seeing consciously by God's help, becomes properly faith. 

" Faith without reason, is not properly faith, but mere power- 
worship ; and power-worship may be devil-worship ; for it is 
reason which entertains the idea of God — an idea essentially 
made up of truth and goodness, no less than of power 

" Reason, then, is the means whereby we attain to faith, and 
escape the devil-worship of idolatry." — Tracts for the Times, 
Addenda I. lntrod. to " Christian Life," &c. 



268 



APPENDIX, 



Dr. A. in the above passage alludes to Coleridge's distinction 
between reason and understanding, which he deems important 
for our defence against Rationalism on the one hand, and Ro- 
manism on the other. The whole article should be read. 

The 7rp6\r}ipi S — " presumption " — of Epicurus seems to be the 
same with the c<j>odph vTzoXrjrpig, earnest opinion, or " I would un- 
dertake to say," of Aristotle. — Topics, iv. 5, Compare with this 
the expression in the Ethics, vi. 3 : f 'Orav yap ttw? marsvg, koI 

yvdopilJLOt avrcd toaiv al dpXa'h bn'urraTai. Clement also cites Aristotle 

as saying that the judgment of a thing as true which is formed 
on acquaintance with it, is a species of faith. — See Barrow, 
Serm. IV., on the Creed. 



NOTE B. 



THAT FAITH IS VOLUNTARY. 

" Faith is a spontaneous acceptance, and compliance with 

divine religion." Utarig -npoK-qipig Uova-iog eort, OtoccSeiag avyKardOecris 

Clement, Strom. 1. ii., p 265. 

" To be made at first was not of ourselves ; but God persua- 
deth us to follow those things which Himself loveth, by free 
choice with the rational faculties which He hath given us, and 

SO leadeth US to faith." To [.dv dpx¥ ytvkatiai ovx rifxirepov rjv. to 6& 
i%aKo\ov6rjvai olg (pi\ou avru alpov/xivovg Si <Lv avrdg tJcup^caro \oyiK&v 
Swafxecop, nsWei t£ kcu tig ttlgtiv ayei fy/aj. Justin Mart., Apol. ii. 

" All faith, therefore, even in common things, may be deemed 
voluntary, no less than intellectual : and Christian faith is espe- 
cially such, as requiring thereto more appreciation of soul, 
managed by choice, than any other. . . . The same is 
supposed in Holy Scripture ; where of believers it is said that 
they did daiievws, gladly, or willingly, receive the word, and they 
received it (xera ^dor\g TrpodvjxLag, with all willingness, or readiness 
of mind. 

u And to defect of will, infidelity is often ascribed. John, 
v. 40; Luke, xiii, 34; Matt. xxii. 3; 2 Pet. iii. 5; 2 Thes. 
ii. 10, 12. And amoTog, J (pcXov ipsvSog Uovcnov, says Clement : 'he 
is the unbeliever, whom a fond delusion has enticed.' " — Barrow. 

" It is the moral duty of the will to use the understanding as a 
mirror^ courting in every direction, and by every means in man's 
power, the rays of divine truth; and endeavoring, by industry, 
disinterestedness, and sincerity, to remove the soiling breath of 
the passions and desires, which so frequently distort those rays, 
and make them diverge from the mind." — /. Blanco White, 
Heresy and Orthodoxy, Letter II. 



NOTE C. 



THAT FAITH IS MORAL. 

The Sceptical View.—-" It lies in the nature of faith, that 
it be fixed as dogma. Dogma only gives a formula to 
what faith had already on its tongue or in its mind* That 
when once a fundamental dogma is established, it gives 
rise to more special questions, which must also be thrown 
into a dogmatic form, that thence there results a burdensome 
multiplicity of dogmas, — this is certainly a fatal conse- 
quence, but does not do away with the necessity that faith 
should fix itself in dogmas, in order that every one may know 
definitely what he must believe, and how he must win salvation." 

" In faith there lies a malignant principle." " Faith is the 
opposite of love." "Faith condemns, anathematizes ; all the 
actions, all the dispositions, which contradict love, humanity, 
reason, accord with faith." 

Thus says the author of the " Essence of Christianity." And 
aside from various passages of Scripture which he misinter- 
preted, he finds real occasion of offence in the theology of men. 
Thus—" Si quis dixerit . . qui fidem sine charitate habet, 
Christianum non esse, anathema sit." — Concil. Trid. (Sess. 
vi., De Justif., can. 28.) " Haereticus usu omnium jurium des- 
titutus est, ut deportatus." — J. H. Boehmer. " Eos autemmerito 
torqueri, qui Deum nesciunt, ut impios, ut injustos, nisi pro- 
fanus nemo deliberat : quum parentem omnium et dominum 
omnium non minus sceleris sit ignorare, quam laedere."— 
Minucius Felix, Octav. c. 35. " Faith and love are two things. 
Faith endures nothing, love endures all things. Faith curses, 
love blesses : faith seeks vengeance and punishment, love seeks 
orbearance and forgiveness." — Luther, lorn. vi. p. 94. 



APPENDIX. 2?1 

" Phrases equally strong,' 5 says Coleridge, speaking of Lu- 
ther's doctrine of the will, u are no rarities in the writings of 
Luther ; for Catachresis was the favorite figure of speech in 
that age." 

The various phases of antinomianism, and the proneness of 
human nature itself to " lengthen the creed and shorten the 
Decalogue," are too w T ell known, or at least too much talked of, 
to call for citations here. Faith became divested of moral 
quality, we think, briefly, thus : 

In the age of the Reformation, the term faith was generally 
restricted by the Protestants to denote the act which secured 
justification. The proposition that man is justified by faith 
in Christ alone, was confounded with its converse, that faith in 
Christ only justifies. Sanctification was made a sequel of jus- 
tification rather than a work of faith— not a proper fruit of 
faith, but an indirect result. Hence, faith not only ceased to 
be meritorious, but it too often lost all moral character, and by 
the meeting of two extremes, the new doctrine of faith occa- 
sioned the same lax morality which it had sought to avoid. This 
iew, we think, is justified by the statements of Hagenbach, 
Hist, of Doct. § 250, 251, 298. 

Statements of the true view. — " Sed cur et Fides dea credita 
est, et accepit ipsa templum et altare ? Quam quisquis pru- 
denter agnoscit, habitaculum illi se ipsum facit. Unde autem 
sciunt illi quid sit fides, cujus primum et maximum officium est, 
ut in verum credatur Deum ? Sed cur non suffecerat virtus 1 
Nonne ibi est fides? Quando quidem virtutem in quatuor species 
distribuendam esse viderunt, prudentiam, justitiam, fortitudinem, 
temperantiam. Et quoniam istae singulae species suas habent, 
in partibus justitiae fides est : maximumque locum apud nos 
habet, quicunque scimus quid set, quod Justus ex fide vivit" — - 
Augustine, De Civ. Dei. Lib. iv. c. xx. 

And while Luther protested against the Romish doctrine of 
faith as meritorious, and the chief of the virtues, it is worthy of 
notice that in his distinction between justification by faith and 
justification by law, he speaks of faith as a species of worship, 



272 APPENDIX. 

" Fides est \arpzia, quae accepit a Deo oblata beneficia ; jus- 
titia leget est \arpua r quae offert Deo nostra merita. Fide sic 
vult coli Deus, ut ab ipso accipiamus ea, quae promittit et offert." 
Apol. Conf. p. 69, cf. p. 126. He says also : " Faith is rightly 
named justification, because it is obedience to the Gospel." 
Page 125. 

And in the Formula Concordiae, though the distinction be- 
tween faith and works is still maintained, they are made insep- 
arable, as heat and light cannot be separated from fire, or as it 
is the nature of the tree to bear fruit. " Est fides quiddam 
vivum, efficax, potens, ita ut fieri non possit, quin semper bona 
operetur." — De Bonis Operibus, iv. 

" In opposition to this Protestant Orthodoxy, that had fallen 
away from the fundamental principle of the Reformation, and 
therefore, clung with the greater obstinacy to the letter of its 
symbolical books, Spener insisted upon a living faith rooted in 
the regenerate will, and undertook to revivify religion, that had 
perished in the stiff forms of a mechanical orthodoxy." This 
passage, from the Memoir of Dr. Moehler, by the translator of 
Schlegel's " Philosophy of History," is very significant, both 
as a tribute to the views of Spener, and as showing the most 
serious difficulty which the pious Romanist finds with Protest- 
antism. 

" In fine, the embracing Christian doctrine doth suppose a 
mind imbued with all kind of virtuous disposition in some de- 
gree." — Barrow, Sermon II., on the Creed. 

" Faith pours vigor into the affections, as well as into the 
will. It gives energy to the action of the heart. It is an enemy 
of debility ; it makes those who possess it mighty in the power 
of love." — Upham, Life of Faith, Part I. ch. ii. " Faith is the 
source, the parent of all true feeling." — Ch. vi. , 

" The moral government of God as far as we know it, is 
only a method of training the conscience, and, by means of the 
conscience, the will of man. For this great purpose, no trial 
or discipline is of a higher and more powerful nature than the 
offer of the Gospel. When men are called upon to repent, or 



APPENDIX. 273 

change their will from the indulgence of the selfish passions to 
the habitual determination of embracing that which, on every 
occasion, the conscience shall approve as best, they cannot an- 
swer with any show of reason that they are not able to under- 
stand what is proposed to them." — J". Blanco White, Heresy 
and Orthodoxy, Letter II. 

These testimonies might, of course, be extended indefinitely, 
by citations from manifold treatises against antinomianism. 



15 



NOTE D 



To the testimonies contained in the above notes we here add 
a few citations to support the three-fold definition, and extend- 
ed import, of Faith, assigned by our author. 

Dr. Tholuck, in his Commentary on Romans, iv. 3, says : 
" Among the Jews there are many who appreciate the high im- 
portance of religious faith, as an inward giving up of self to 
God. To this purpose, Philo has various beautiful passages. 
De Abrahamo, p. 388 : ' The one only sure and infallible good 
is faith, the faith that is fixed upon God ; it is the consolation 
of life, the fulfillment of hope, the absence of evil, and the price 
of every blessing ; it is the ignorance of misery, the knowledge 
if piety, and the inheritance of felicity ; it is that which per- 
fects every thing, depending as it does upon the great First 
Cause, who has power to do all things, but who wills only the 
best.' In the sequel he styles faith, the ' queen of virtues.' 
More especially, however, in his work, Quis rerum div. haeres ? 
p. 493 : " Abraham believed in God, and to have done so re- 
dounds to his praise. Some, indeed, may perhaps insinuate 
that there is nothing very commendable in that, and may ask, 
if any one, even the most unjust and impious of men, would not 
give heed to the words and promises of God. To whom we 
reply: Beware then of inconsiderately defrauding the wise man 
of his merited eulogium, — of assigning faith, which is the most 
perfect of virtues, to the unworthy, or of casting reproach upon 
our knowledge of this subject. For if you please to search 
more deeply, and not keep to the mere surface of things, you 



APPENDIX. 275 

will readily perceive, that to believe in God alone, and in noth- 
ing else besides, is by no means an easy matter, etc." 

John of Damascus, the most considerable writer of the eighth 
century, speaks of faith as two-fold. " For there is a faith 
which comes by hearing ; for when we hear the sacred Scrip- 
tures, we give credence to the teaching of the Holy Spirit ; 
and this [faith] is perfected in all the commands of Christ, a 
faith that works (Zpyy morsvovoa), reverently doing the precepts of 
Him who hath renewed us. And there is also a faith, the con- 
fidence of things hoped for, the full conviction of things not 
seen (Heb. xi. 1.), the undisturbed and unshaken hope of the 
things promised to us by God, and of the answer to our pray- 
ers. The former is of ourselves, the act of our own will (rffc 
fiiAirspagyv^fjLrjg); the latter is a gift of the Spirit." — De Fide Orthod. 
iv. 10 ; cited by Hagenbach, Hist, of Doc, § 186. 

This is a distinction of the objects of faith, (viz., of duty and 
reward,) rather than of the nature of faith. The first division 
alone contains all that is given in our author's definition. 

Hugo of St. Victor, of " profoundly spiritual mind," says Dr. 
Hase, who died a.d. 1141, " looked upon faith, on the one hand 
as (cognitio) of the intellect, and on the other as (affectus) of 
the emotions." — Hagenbach, ibid. 

Among the Schoolmen we find the " Master of Sentences" 
making a distinction between belief in a God, (credere Deum) 
the belief of God (credere Deo), and trust in God (credere in 
Deum), and saying that " to trust in God is by believing to love 
Him, by believing to go to Him, by believing to cleave unto 
Him, and to become one of the members of His body. By this 
faith the sinner is justified, so that faith itself thenceforth be- 
gins to work by love." Again, he says that "love itself is a 
work of faith."— Sent. 1. iii. dist. 23, D. 

Thomas Aquinas, " the Angelical Doctor," whose writings 
are commended by such men as Sir William Hamilton and Dr. 
Tholuck, after defining faith as a " habit of the soul by which 
eternal life is begun in us, causing the intellect to assent to the 



276 APPENDIX. 

existence of things unseen," and remarking that to believe is 
immediately an act of the intellect, since the object of faith is 
a [supposed] truth, — proceeds to say, " the act of faith is related 
to an object of the will, or to something good, as an end. But 
this good which is the end of faith, (that is, a divine good,) is 
the proper object [also] of love. And therefore love is called 
the form of faith, inasmuch as by love the act of faith is formed 
and perfected."— Summa, P. ii. 2 ; Quaest. iv 1.2. 

The " fides formata" is also distinguished by Lombard from 
"fides informis," or faith without love. — 1. c. 

Jeremy Taylor speaks of faith as including " an act of the 
will in it as well as of the understanding, as much love in it as 
discursive power. True Christian faith must have in it some- 
thing of in-evidence, something that must be made up by duty 
and by obedience." — Worthy Communicant, cited by Coleridge, 
Aids, Aphorisms, on Spiritual Rel. xxii., xxiii. Compare the 
Bishop's Sermon on " Fides Formata ; or, Faith Working by 
Love." 

Again he says : " unless faith be made moral by the mixture 
of choice and charity, it is nothing but a natural perfection ; 
not a grace or a virtue."— Lib. of Proph. II. 9. 

Baxter says : — Faith is " an act of the moral reason." 

Dr. Knapp, while he follows the common division of faith as 
consisting of three parts, knowledge (cognitio, notitia), assent 
(assensus), and trust or confidence (fiducia), remarks : " But all 
these parts do not belong to Christian faith as directed to each 
particular object. They all belong only to faith in promises. 
Knowledge and assent merely are requisite to the faith in events 
and doctrines ; and a will and inclination to obey, to faith in 
the Divine commands. To avoid this inconvenience, faith might 
be made to consist in two particulars, — knowledge^ and a dis- 
position of heart correspondent to this knowledge, (£myva><ris koI 
aMnais : Phil. i. 9,) according to which one would be inclined 
to obey the Divine commands, and confide in the Divine prom- 
ises. Many theologians prefer this division." — Christ. Theol. 
§ cxxii. Wood's Trans. 



NOTE E . 



AUTHORITIES TOUCHING SECTARIANISM. 

The common defence of the present division of the Church 
into various sects with various creeds, is, that this is necessary 
in order to maintain purity of Christian doctrine against heresy. 
The fallacy of this plea lies in the false meaning attached to 
the word "heresy." It is taken to denote doctrinal error; 
whereas it really means " division," or any cause that produces 
division. It does not refer mainly or properly to doctrinal mat- 
ters, but to discord and dissension, of which wrong doctrine is 
only one among many occasions. 

This appears even from the use of the word in the New 
Testament. In five of the ten passages w^here it occurs, it sig- 
nifies " party" or " sect." (Acts v. 17 ; xv. 5 ; xxiv. 5 ; xxvi. 
5 ; xxviii. 22.) In Acts xxiv. 14, it " properly denotes," says 
Bloomfield, " only the taking up of an opinion, well or ill found- 
ed [i. e. as the rallying cry of a sect] ; and Paul means to take 
exception at the invidious sense which the word admitted, and 
in which it was used by his opponents ; just as our word new- 
fangled^ which properly denotes only what is newly-taken." 

In 1 Cor. xi. 19, the word plainiy signifies divisions, and not 
doctrinal errors ; for they are not the subject of discourse. 
Hence, Calvin, commenting on the passage, says, " envy and 
pride are the source of almost all heresies ;" and compares 
heresy with schism, defining the latter as a secret grudge or 
progressive contention, and the former as the open warfare, di- 
viding men into opposite sects. So likewise Chrysostom and 
Theodoret. And Suicer, on the word " heresy," says, " it is 
not to be disguised that the ancients did not understand by it 
doctrines contrary to orthodoxy, but contentions, etc." 



278 APPENDIX. 

These " contentions, etc," are named more particularly by- 
Paul in Gal. v. 30, as " hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, 
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders," and all other 
works of the flesh. Hence, in 2 Pet. ii. 1, where " damnable," 
or rather " destructive heresies" (alpeveis u-oi\da$) are named as 
brought in by false teachers, the context shows that " covetous- 
ness" is their capital error. They " make merchandise" of their 
heresies, loving, like Balaam, the u wages of unrighteousness." 
The heresies were such as no pure-minded Christian could fall 
into. Hence, again, in Titus iii. 10, the disciples are directed 
to reject the heretic after the first and second admonition, on 
the ground that he is manifestly such, and cannot himself pre- 
tend a denial of it ; " knowing that he is such, is subverted, and 
sinneth, and is condemned of himself." Upon which Jeremy 
Taylor remarks : " Just so it is in heresy ; if it be a design of 
ambition, and making of a sect, (so Erasmus expounds St. Paul 
aiperiKdv a^dpojirov, sectarum autorem,) if it be for filthy lucre's 
sake, as it was in some that were of the circumcision ; if it be 
of pride and love of pre-eminence, as it was in Diotrephes 
b (piXonpayrevov, — or out of peevishness and indocibleness of dis- 
position, or of a contentious spirit, i. e., that their feet are not 
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace — in all these 
cases the error is just so damnable as is its principle ; but 
therefore, not damnable in itself, but by reason of its adhe- 
rency." And again : " Faith being a doctrine of piety as well 
as truth, that which was destructive either of fundamental verity 
or of Christian sanctity, was against faith ; and if it made a 
sect, was heresy ; if not, it ended in personal impiety, and went 
no further."* 

From this view, that seems to follow which has been often 
remarked and asserted, that Sectarianism is Heresy. It agrees 
also with the statement that heresy " is to be accounted accord- 
ing to the strict capacity of the Christian faith, and not of 

* Lib. of Proph., I. 9., II. 15, cf. Jas. Foster, On Heresy, and Dr. Arnold, Life 
and Corr. Let. lxx. 



APPENDIX. 279 

opinions speculative, nor ever to pious persons."* It also agrees 
with the remark of Augustine : " I may be in error, but I will 
not be a heretic." 

Another weighty inference seems equally clear. Since heresy 
is the guilty cause of division among Christians, it may be 
found, not only in the denial of a fundamental truth, but in the 
insisting upon that which is not fundamental, as though it were 
so. For either of these must end in division. There is, then, 
the heresy of denial, and the heresy of imposition ; each equally 
germain to the true notion of that much abused term ; and it 
is hardly a paradox, when we say that those who happen to be 
most orthodox, if they make their views a test of communion 
with those Christians who have not yet embraced them, are 
ipso facto the heretical party. Which accords with what was 
once said of those who would impose a tenet of their leaders 
on the consciences of others: "We judge the authors of the 
opinion to be Catholic, and those who followed in the same 
opinion to be heretical. We excuse the teachers and condemn 
the scholars. Those who wrote the books are the heirs of 
heaven, while the defenders of these very books are thrust 
down to hell."t And we are told, what in this view would 
more than any thing else confirm to Athanasius the title of 
" Father of Orthodoxy," on the supposition that the Creed as- 
cribed to him were genuine, — that he framed his Confession of 
Faith, " not with a design to impose it upon others, but to de- 
clare his own belief. "J And the definition of heresy given 
by Milton meets only this case, in which one may hold all the 
cardinal truths, but adds other matters as part of the foundation : 
" Heresy is a religion taken up and believed from the traditions 
of men and additions to the Word of God."§ 

And if heresy is never to be asserted " of pious persons," 
does it not fellow that all Christians do hold the fundamental 

* Lib. ofProph. ( 

t Vincent of Lerius, Adv. Haeres, c.ll. See Lib. of Proph.,II. 22. 
+ Non per modum symboli, sed per modum doctrinas. — Aquinas, Summa^ ILL 
Kxii. 1, of I. Tayior, Nat. Hist, of Fanaticism ; of the Symbol 
§ Of True Beligion, etc. 



280 APPENDIX. 

doctrines of saving faith ? If so, the famous canon of an ancient 
writer, that so much is cardinal truth as has been held " semper, 
ubique, et ab omnibus," at all times, in all places, and by all, 
if it be not a barren truism, indicates that in fundamental doc- 
trines, Christians are infallible. And may not this fact meet 
all that is just in the demand of the Romanist, that there should 
be " a Church infallible in fundamentals ?" With this view of 
the case would agree the statement of Chillingworth, when, de- 
nying that the Church is " an infallible guide in fundamentals," 
he says, " That there should always be ' a Church infallible in 
fundamentals,' we easily grant, for it comes to no more but this, 
8 that there should always be a Church.' "* But how can this 
be, except on the principle that the individual, however he 
may err in drawing the line that divides between essentials and 
non-essentials, or by adding to the fundamentals, — yet in these 
is truly " taught of God," and cannot err unless by apostasy. 

And here belong the views of various eminent men respect- 
ing the difference between points that are, and that are not, 
fundamental. Thus the younger Turretin, the same who said 
that " the greatest heresy is a wicked life," remarks that " the 
essential doctrines of religion are plain, adapted to common ca- 
pacities, and free from all the subtle and intricate distinctions 
of the school ;" they are u few in number," they are " very 
often and various ways repeated and inculcated in Scripture ;" 
and they are "principles of piety. "t 

And Chillingworth, who was, perhaps, the first to state fairly 
and fully the principles of Protestantism, or the right of private 
judgment, says : " Those truths will be fundamental which are 
evidently revealed in Scripture, and commanded to be preached 
to all men ; those not fundamental, which are obscure." And 
when asked whether the Apostle's Creed contains all funda- 
mentals, as if, believing it alone, we were at liberty to deny 
all other points of Scripture," he replies very truly : " It was 

* Religion of Protestants, c. 3, § 89. 

t Discourse on the Fundamental Articles in Religion. 



APPENDIX. 281 

never alleged to any such purpose, but only as a sufficient, or 
rather more than a sufficient, summary of those points of faith, 
which were of necessity to be believed actually and explicitly."* 

James Foster, who maintained for a long time the first place 
among the most admired preachers of his day, says, a funda- 
mental doctrine must be " so plainly and distinctly revealed, as 
that an ordinary Christian, sincere in his inquiries, cannot miss 
the knowledge of it ;" and " a belief of it must be made an ex- 
press term of happiness in the sacred writings."! 

And Le Clerc, an eminent French divine, says : " They pro- 
fess and teach the Christian doctrine in the purest manner of 
all, who propose those things only as necessary to be believed, 
practiced or hoped for, which Christians are agreed in." 

The pernicious consequences of adding to the essentials of 
salvation, have been frequently portrayed. Says Dr. Arnold : 
" Even truth is not always to be insisted upon, if, by forcing it 
upon the reception of those who are not prepared for it, they 
are thereby tempted to renounce what is not only true, but es- 
sential — a character which assuredly does not belong to all true 
propositions, whether about things human or things divine. "J 
And Abp.Whately : " God forbid that the Christian should deny 
or explain away any thing that is part of his faith, for the sake 
of moderating the hostility or escaping the scorn that may be 
directed against it ; but as little is he authorized needlessly to 
expose his religion to that hostility and scorn, by maintaining 
or allowing to be maintained, as a part of the Christian reve- 
lation, any tenet (however intrinsically true,) which the Scrip- 
tures do not warrant. The same authority which forbids us to 
' diminish aught' not warranted of God, forbids us also to ' add 
thereto. ' "§ 

This statement refers, indeed, to the author's distinction, but 
it applies to the present ; and it authorizes the statement, that 

* Religion of Protestants, c. 1. § 16. 

t Essay on Fndamentals. 

t Life and Corr., Let. lxxiv., To J. Abbott. 

f Difficulties in the Writings of St. Paul. 



282 APPENDIX. 

as the truth may be held in unrighteousness, so likewise it 
may be held heretically. 

Of the evils of this, Chillingworth has given a lively picture. 
" Shall it be a fault to straiten and encumber the king's high- 
ways with public nuisances — and is it lawful, by adding new 
articles to the faith, to retrench any thing from the King of 
Heaven's highway to eternal happiness V And Jeremy Tay- 
lor : " If the Church, by declaring an article, can make that to 
be necessary which before was not necessary, I do not see how 
it can stand with the charity of the Church to do so ; especially 
after so long experience she hath had, that all men will not be- 
lieve every such decision or explication ; for by so doing she 
makes the narrow way to heaven narrower, and chalks out one 
more path to the devil than he had before ; and yet the way 
was broad enough, when it was at the narrowest."* And Bax- 
ter : " Two things have set the Church on fire, and been the 
plagues of it above one thousand years : 1, Enlarging our 
creed, and making more fundamentals than ever God made ; 
2, Composing, and so imposing, our creeds and confessions in 
our own words and phrases." f 

We cannot here go fully into the question whether the Church 
should claim the Divinity of Christ as a fundamental ; or whether 
it should be allowed that all who accept salvation as procured 
by Christ, are Christians, with whatever views of His nature. 
But the practice of the early Church in this matter is signifi- 
cant. Justin Martyr, speaking of the pre-existence of Christ, 
says, this question should be entirely separated from that of 
Jesus being the Messiah. " For there are," he says, "some of 
us [literally, some of our sort,] who, confessing him to be the 
Christ, yet declare him to be a man descended from men." J 

* Lib. of Proph. 1 12. 

t Works, vol. iii., p. 76. 

X Ka£ yap slat Tiveq, w <piXoi, eXcyov, and rov ri/xsrepov yivov$ : bjxoXoyovvreg 
avrdv xptorov elVflUj avdpuirov 8£ e% dvOpdoncov yzvopzvov drrocpaivoixevoi, oi§ ov 
avvridsnai, ovS" 1 av tcXzTgtoi ravrd jxol So^daavrzs zllnoizv. Dial. c. Tryplio. 48. 
Bp.Bull contends that, instead of rj^ripov we should read vnsrepov, but without 
warrant. And the proposed emendation only coBfirm.* the ^significance of the 
passage. 



APPENDIX. 283 

Nor can we fully meet here the objection that liberty in non- 
essentials will encourage latitudinarian license, and disregard 
of truth. A single citation must suffice : " Toleration," says 
Turretin, " is the greatest friend to truth, and the contrary its 
greatest enemy ; for if the strong will not bear with the weak, 
neither will the weak bear with the strong ; for every man counts 
himself strong, and thus all will come to condemn, and to exe- 
cute one another ; by which means, truth itself will be banished 
out of many parts of the world." And again : " If improve- 
ments may yet be made, we ought by all means to bear patiently 
with those who offer us any thing new ; for otherwise we sup- 
press all improvements, and stifle the gift of prophecy, and 
bring in sloth and barbarity ; for who will attempt any thing of 
this kind, when it becomes dangerous to do it ?"* And Chil- 
lingworth : " He that could assert Christians to that liberty 
which Christ and his Apostles left them, must needs do truth a 
most heroical service."! 

Of creeds we need say but little. It has often been remark- 
ed that they should be ever expressed in the very words of the 
Bible, lest we profanely add to the word of God, or assume to 
make the sun clearer by the light of our wax tapers. But the 
history of creeds sufficiently condemns them as unreliable. Not 
irifty do they commonly make the easy yoke of Christ heavy, 
by adding to the essentials, but they omit things that are es- 
sential. There is a memorable proof of this in the fact that in 
a Corpus Confessionum, printed at Geneva in 1612, (when and 
where the very atmosphere was orthodox,) and designed to re- 
vive the credit of some of the Protestant formularies and to 
show a substantia] harmony against the cavils of the Romanists, 
eleven out of sixteen of the collected creeds made no mention 
of the Resurrection of the Dead. . 

And when creeds are called " formularies," the name is all 
too appropriate. " I dislike articles," says Dr. Arnold, " be- 
cause they represent truth untruly, that is, in an unedifying 

* On Fundamentals, rii. 6, 8, t Bel. of Prots., c. 4, § 13, 



284 APPENDIX. 

manner, and thus robbed of its living truth, whilst it retains its 
mere ethical form."* 

And the famous passage of Chillingworth is, on its very face, 
an appeal from creeds to the Bible. " By the Religion of Pro- 
testants I do not understand the doctrine of Luther, or Calvin, 
or Melancthon ; nor the Confession of Augusta, or Geneva, nor 
the Catechism of Heidelberg, nor the Articles of the Church of 
England ; no, nor the Harmony of the Protestant Confessions ; 
but that wherein they all agree, and which they all subscribe 
with a greater harmony, as a perfect rule ot their faith and ac- 
tions ; that is, the Bible. The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is 
the religion of Protestants ! Whatsoever else they believe be- 
sides it, and the plain, irrefragable, indubitable consequences of 
it, well may they hold it as a matter of opinion ; but as a mat- 
ter of faith and religion, neither can they with coherence to 
their own grounds believe it themselves, nor require the belief 
of it in others, without most high and most schismatical pre- 
sumption."! 

The objection still remains in the minds of many, that the 
preacher of the Gospel should certainly be required to subscribe 
a confession of faith, so that truth may be taught in its purest 
possible form ; while the laity should be free from this restric- 
tion. But such a distinction is quite as vicious in principle 
as that which Romanists have made between the clergy and the 
laity ; and its tendency is quite as corrupting. The preacher 
is made the repository and guardian of orthodoxy ; the layman 
is excused from that care. The defence of truth, or rather of 
a particular set of opinions, is made the business of a class ; and 
in this defence, if not in self-defence, the clerical order becomes 

* Life and Corr. Lett, lxiii. lxi. 

t Ch. vi. § 56. " At length arose the immortal Chillingworth, who disclaimed 
the defence of the Protestant religion as it lay in systems and confessions, and 
appealed to the Bible only. By this means many cavils were cut off at once, and 
many confessions of systematical doctors rendered of no use to Papists at all; 
who being well aware of the advantages the Popish cause would lose by this ex- 
pedient, were extremely provoked at it." — Archd. Blackburne, The Confessional, 
c. 1. note. 



APPENDIX. 285 

a hierarchy. Others are left to indulge the indifference to 
which fallen nature is too prone, or their inquiries after truth 
must be guided by a fixed yet fallible standard. Orthodoxy, 
which is a virtue if it is a duty, becomes the special virtue of a 
class, like the saintly virtues of the Romish clergy, the lack of 
which is no sin in the laity. Heterodoxy, or rather, free in- 
quiry, becomes dangerous ; there is a mutual bondage, and what 
wonder if there is a common corruption ? 

It is true, indeed, that the teacher should know more of the 
Scriptures than those taught ; not, however, that he may have 
their consciences in his keeping, but precisely because they 
should know more than they do. His special qualification is 
that of more full and illustrative knowledge, directed by Chris- 
tian prudence, and sanctified by the common piety. And all 
these things are to the essentials of the faith, what the fully de- 
veloped symmetry and strength of manhood is to the organism 
which just makes the human form. To say that the preacher 
shall hold a doctrine which the layman need not hold, is as if he 
mus.t have a bone to his skeleton which another may dispense 
with. 

This view is not new. Says Archd. Blackburn : " Certain 
it is, that in so far as the laity are allowed not to be bound by 
these Church Confessions, the point of right to establish them 
as tests of orthodoxy is fairly given up, as well for the clergy 
as for the laity ; since whatever is sufficient to direct the faith 
and practice of the laymen, must likewise be sufficient to direct 
the faith and practice of the clergyman, unless the clergyman 
may be obliged to teach doctrines, which the laymen is not ob- 
liged either to believe or to practice. "* 

And Chillingworth, making the distinction between fundamen- 
tals, and non-fundamentals, calls the former " objects of faith 
in and for themselves, which by their own nature, and 
God's prime intention, are essential parts of the Gospel ; 
such as the teachers in the Church cannot without mor- 
tal sin omit to teach the learners, and such as are in- 

* The Confessional, c. 2. 



286 APPENDI . 

trinsical to the covenant between God and man ; and not 
only plainly revealed by God, and so certain truths, but also 
commanded to be preached to all men, and to be believed dis- 
tinctly by all, and so necessary truths." And the non-funda- 
mentals are " such as pastors are not bound to teach their flock, 
nor their flock to know and remember ; no, nor their pastors 
themselves to know them or believe them, or not to disbelieve 
them absolutely and always ; but then only, when they do see and 
know them to be delivered in Scripture as divine revelations."* 

And Dr. Arnold : " As to the adhesion of the inner man to 
any set of religious truths — this, it seems to me, belongs to us 
as Christians, and is, in fact, a part of the notion of Christian 
faith, which faith is to be required of all the Church alike, so 
far as it can be or ought to be required of any one. 
If they [the Articles] are a burden, all ought to bear it alike ; 
if they are a fair test of Church membership, they should ex- 
tend to all alike."f 

Finally, the custom by which the preacher of the Gospel is 
required to assent to articles of faith is a mere usage, unauthor- 
ized by the original intent of the best established Confessions. 
The practice is in fact, what the practice of slaveholding in the 
Southern states is believed by many to be, unconstitutional. 

The view attributed by Aquinas to Athanasius, already cited, 
is a presumptive proof of this statement. And the Father of 
Orthodoxy has found his imitators in this matter, and with 
good reason ; for the greatness that has framed the most en- 
during creeds, has usually been connected with sagacity to 
perceive their fallibility, and with the hope that those who came 
after would enjoy clearer light breaking forth from the Divine 
Word. So has it been with the best Reformers. The divines 
of Westminster were very far from expecting their Shorter 
Catechism, much less their larger Confession, to become a rule 
of orthodoxy. " When it was proposed by the Scots Commis- 
sioners that the answers of the Shorter Catechism should be 

* Bel. of Prots., c. 4, § 3, cf. $ 22. f Life and Cor., Let. ccxxxv. cf. Let. cxri. 






APPENDIX. 287 

subscribed by the members of that body, the proposal was 
rejected, after discussion, as an unwarrantable imposition ; and 
not for forty years was subscription made a test of ministerial 
standing."* Though such has been the progress of ecclesias- 
tical fatuity, that a minister, holding the sentiments of the West- 
minster Confession, has been arraigned and excommunicated 
for declaring as that Assembly did, that the Confession was not 
to be made a test. 

But the American branch of the Presbyterian family design- 
ed no such thing. The Confession and Catechism were adopt- 
ed by the Synod is 1729, with the following Proviso, which 
contains the principle of Protestantism, and is to this day un- 
repealed : 

" And in case any minister of the Synod, or any candidate 
for the ministry shall have any scruple, with respect to any ar- 
ticle or articles of said Confession ; he shall, in time of making 
said declaration, declare his scruples to the Synod or Presby- 
tery ; who shall notwithstanding admit him to the exercise of 
the ministry within our bounds, and to ministerial communion, 
if the Synod or Presbytery shall judge his scruples not essential, 
or necessary in doctrine, worship, or government." 

This Proviso was made the basis of the union in 1758, to 
accommodate differences in doctrine which then appeared. And 
President Davies, speaking of the practice in his day, says : 
" We allowed the candidate to maintain his objections against 
any part of the Confession, and the judicatories judged whether 
the articles objected to were essential to Christianity ; and if 
they judged they were not, they admitted the candidate, not- 
withstanding his objections."! 

The full benefits of this Proviso are not, however, enjoyed, 
for two reasons. By the Assembly's act of 1811, the Theolo- 
gical Professor is required solemnly to promise that he will not 
" inculcate, teach or insinuate any thing which shall appear to 
him to contradict or contravene, either directly or impliedly, 

* Chas. Beecher's Discourses on " The Bible a Sufficient Creed." 
t Christian Spectator, March, 1835. 



288 APPENDIX. 

any thing taught in the Confession of Faith or Catechism. " The 
Professor is to the Pastor what the Pastor is to the layman ; and 
a liberty denied to the one is not likely to be taught to the other. 
Again, this Confession, like most others, combines essentials 
and non-essentials in the same document ; and the distinction 
between them is most likely not to be made, just when it is 
most needed. 

Confessions more brief than that of Westminister are for the 
same reason more apt to be imposed as tests, with much con- 
troversy as to the import of subscription to them, and with much 
occasion of stumbling to the world. From this point of view, 
we offer two more citations. 

" We may talk," says Dr. Jebb, " of the sufficiency of the 
Scriptures as we please ; but while the laws establishing sub- 
scription to human formularies remain, [and there are many 
Church establishments besides the Anglican], the voice of the 
Articles shall alone be heard ; the ignorance and superstition 
of mankind shall for a while preserve the shadow of religion in 
our land, but its substance shall be nowhere found. Improve- 
ments in science and the arts shall at length disclose the as- 
tonishing absurdity of our national [denominational] faith. The 
Scriptures shall be disbelieved, because their genuine simplicity 
and excellence are concealed by designing men from human 
view ; the Articles shall be disbelieved because they are held 
forth to it."* 

If this judgment shall appear harsh and transatlantic, the 
following, from Isaac Taylor, will apply with greater force to 
our more numerous sects : " The violence of religious strife 
has, indeed, long died away; or it breaks out only for a mo- 
ment ; but no relief has as yet been administered to the settled 
ill consequences of that delirium. So far as we are religious 
at all, the English people is a nation of sects, and our theology 
is necessarily the theology of faction. Not a false theology — 
thank God ; but a theology that is confused, entangled, imper- 

* Letters on Subscription. 



APPENDIX. 289 

feet and gloomy; a theology which, while it abundantly breeds 
infidelity among the educated classes, fails to spread through 
the body of the population, and but dimly, or only as a flicker- 
ing candle, illumines the world."* 

The future of our American Christianity is unknown. Let 
us hope that the spirit of faction will not dash us in pieces, and 
reduce us to individualism, ere we learn that Christ, and not 
the best sect, is our strength, and take courage to stand upon 
the Rcok. They are wise words which the French Protestant 
and martyr has said : " At the Reformation they did not sys- 
tematize ; they felt that they lived, and method and form were 
neglected. Afterward came a season of repose ; the clergy, 
in certain places, formed an order. Now we have to choose : 
Catholicism urges us ; we ought to be openly Protestants. We 
have kept many Catholic rags : we should now decidedly dress 
ourselves anew."f 

* Nat. Hist, of Fanaticism Of the Symbol. 

t Vinet; Pastoral Theology ; Trans, by Dr. Skinner, p. 47. cf. noteD, and the 
pasvsages there cited from Neander, Memorials of Christian Life ; part i. c. 4. 



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